Free author visits boost reading for pleasure to start 2024/25 school year.
Amazing start to the 2024/25 term with free author visits for schools across Manchester libraries.
We had a bumper offer of author events for schools last half term. Over 1800 children have benefited from our free author experiences. Bringing schools, libraries and authors together gives students opportunities to explore libraries and interact with authors, understanding that authors are everyday people and how someone with a similar background to them has become a writer or illustrator can be immensely inspiring.
Reseach from the National Literacy Trust shows that author visits help children have a greater connection to writing and reading, especially reading for pleasure.
- More children and young people who had experienced an author visit told us that they enjoyed reading in their free time compared with their peers who hadn’t experienced one (58.6% vs. 39.3%).
- The same pattern was found for enjoying writing in their free time, with more children and young people who had had an author visit saying they enjoyed this compared with those who had not had an author visit (43.2% vs. 32.2%).
We started the school year with a fun welcome back session from Sue Pickford Cheung on zoom, for both Key Stage 1 and 2 children with over 1400 students hearing all about the Mandy Yip series and some on the spot doodling.
Next up, bringing passion and energy to Central Library for National Poetry Day, Dommy B got us all to ‘Make Some Noise,’ with over 150 children enjoying action packed sessions at Central Library.
October brought some spooky fun to our area libraries, Jennifer Killick, author of the Dread Wood series, visited libraries across Manchester with schools having a fabulously disgusting time learning about tape worms, giant spiders and how Jennifer links real world ideas into her fantasy stories.
On the 3rd of Oct we had an inspiring visit from storyteller Andy Copps, bringing traditional stories from Africa to life with music and puppets and lots of interactivity.
St Anne’s Primary said “Great storytelling! Children loved getting involved with the story and having a go at different instruments and now the children want to tell us their own stories”
It was a really packed 1st week of October, and we ended it on a high with a visit from local author Louisa Reid launching her new YA book with Year 10s and 11s at MEA South, St Paul’s, and Co-op Academy North. Find out more here Louisa Reid’s Handle With Care: Inspiring Manchester Teens – manclibraries blog .
We also celebrated Green Libraries week on Monday 7th Oct and we were back in Central Library with another local author and illustrator Emma Reynolds, We were joined by key stage 2 children from Rushbrook and St Anne’s Primary schools, chatting about how we can all make small changes to combat climate change and making zines about the changes we could make.
Phew just 3 more to tell you about!
Heading towards the end of term and we had another book launch this time on Zoom with Susannah Lloyd and the fantastically funny Badgers are Go! More than 350 children from 7 schools joined in with the fun and we spotted a few teachers who may be Badger operated humans, to find out more pick up a copy from your local library.
Also, on Zoom and beaming in from her ship in Rotterdam it was Sharna Jackson, showing us how we can twist our stories and how to write compelling crime stories.
And finally for this term local author and Manchester Libraries Trust Trustee, Ashley Thorpe, headed out to local libraries to entertain children at Hulme, Longsight, and Moss Side Powerhouse Libraries, with his book The Boy to Beat the Gods with almost 100 children captivated by tales of gods, goddesses, and magic!
Teachers really appreciated our free offers for schools this half term.
St Anne’s Primary said “I find the library extremely helpful with us. Our children love visiting and many only go to libraries with school, so to bring them to Central Library is a great treat and the author visits inspire those who love reading and help reluctant readers see reading in a different, more engaging light.”
We have so much more to come! If you are a teacher working in a Manchester Local Authority area school, you can make sure you see our offers by filling in this form to be added to our contacts list and asking your head for the school broadcast. https://forms.office.com/e/9mmfcvdANp
