Reading Makes Us Free

Reading Makes Us Free is a mass-participation artwork celebrating the power and freedom reading gives to us. Inspired by the Frederick Douglass quote ‘Once you learn to read, you will be forever free…’ local artist Emma Martin developed the idea with the help of a small group of children, the ‘creative crew’ from Stanley Grove Primary Academy. The art installation was revealed at the launch of the Blue Peter Book Club Live programme in Manchester Central Library on 18 May and be in-situ until 28 May. 

Emma was invited to develop an idea for a mass-participation artwork by Manchester Libraries as part of the Blue Peter Book Club Live programme in partnership with The Reading Agency and Blue Peter. This multi-strand initiative has been created to promote reading for pleasure, encourage families to discover their local libraries and to explore cultural venues as part of a city-wide Blue Peter Badge Trail. 

Enlisting the help of the creative crew, the group discussed how reading made them feel and the idea of birds representing the power and freedom that reading gives us was developed. You can find out about how the project developed in the video created by Emma and shared with schools who had signed up to take part. 

Thirty schools and 10,059 young participants created birds, writing comments about reading and books on their wings. The bird templates incorporate the words of Frederick Douglass, who was formerly enslaved. The birds were then collected and displayed across multiple floors in Manchester Central Library for launch day, 18 May. The Reading Makes Us Free activity brought in a huge number of families looking for their birds and every child was congratulated and recognised as a fellow artist by Emma. Children were also invited to create their own birds on the day, helped by the creative crew who had themselves created giant birds in their very own nest. 

The Bird activity is now on the Blue Peter website so that children and families everywhere can take part.

Here are some of our favourite comments/quotes that we’ve spotted on the exhibited birds: 

• I like to read because it is like a dream you hold in your hands. A book contains a story with a wonderful start and an end. 
• It took me a while to start really enjoying books, but as soon as I read HARRY POTTER I knew this was the one. 
• My Mum always makes me read books that my uncle made. He made the book ‘The Final Year’ – (the ‘uncle’ is none other than local award-winning author, Matt Goodfellow!) 

Not only were the creative crew stars on the day, but they were actual TV stars when they appeared on an episode of Blue Peter on 17 May making Book Birds and explaining about the project with Blue Peter presenters Abby, Joel and Shini!