About us
History of Bookgifting Programs
Early years bookgifting programmes were first developed in the late 1980s. Reach out and Read, a clinic-based programme, was founded by pediatricians Robert Needleman and Barry Zuckerman in Boston in 1989 and is now a national program. In 1992, the Bookstart Programme was founded by BookTrust’s inspirational early literacy champion Wendy Cooling. Begun as a pilot in Birmingham, Bookstart grew to become national. Bookstart and Reach out and Read pioneered the integration of early shared reading into the healthcare of children through health-based bookgifting partnerships. Nati Per Leggere, a pediatrician-library led program was launched in Italy in 1999 followed by Bookstart Japan in 2000, the Read to Me program in Canada in 2002, and Better Beginnings in Australia in 2004. Early years bookgifting programmes of varying models and scale have continued to grow world-wide.
Global Network Development
As bookgifting programmes developed around the world there was an awareness of the value of sharing experience as peers – to foster innovation, excellence and resilience. In 2017 a working group led by BookTrust (Bookstart England, Wale and Northern Ireland) came together to establish the Global Network for Early Years Bookgifting. The Network now has almost 30 individual member programmes who collectively distribute some 12 million free books to children around the world each year. The goal of the network is to strengthen existing programmes and support new and emerging programmes. The Global Network represents many different bookgifting models including health-based and library-based models. We connect through regular online meetings, profiling programme models and sharing resources and research. The Global Network for Early Years Bookgifting is a strong advocate for shared reading in the early years, and for the right of every child to books and reading.
The Network Thanks Wendy Cooling
Beloved bookgifting pioneer Wendy Cooling believed passionately in the importance of reading to babies and toddlers in the early years. The Bookstart idea, which she established in England decades ago has been the model for many worldwide projects that exist today. In this video members of the Global Network express their gratitude to Wendy for her inspiration, leadership and vision.
The network thanks Wendy Cooling