Bookbug.
Across all 32 local authorities in Scotland.
December 26th 2023
Scottish Book Trust
Sandeman House, Trunk’s Close, 55 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SR
Inspire a love of reading and writing across Scotland
Catriona Wallace
Head of Early Years
www.scottishbooktrust.com
Charity
Around 50
Bookbug.
Across all 32 local authorities in Scotland.
2009
Encourage and support families to share books, talk, sing and cuddle with their children from birth.
Scottish Government. Creative Scotland. A couple of other specific funding streams e.g. Bord na Gaidhlig.
All 32 Scottish local authorities.
Not for profit.
None.
Consistent: Our programme is consistent in that Bookbug Bags are gifted to all children in Scotland and Bookbug Sessions take place in all 32 local authorities. There are, however, regional differences in the ways this happens (eg. distribution of Baby and Toddler bags can be through NHS or through libraries; some areas have Bookbug Steering Groups, others don’t; also a lot of variation in the amount of time local Bookbug Co-ordinators have to devote to Bookbug etc)
Bookbug Baby Bag. 3 board books, Calendar, Music CD, Postcard linking to our Song & rhyme library. Bookbug Toddler Bag. 3 books (mixture of board and picture), Drawing pad and crayons, Song & rhyme booklet, Height Chart, Music CD, Postcard linking to our Song & rhyme library. Bookbug Explorer Bag. 3 picture books, Activity Book and coloured pencils, Postcards, Parent Leaflet, Postcard linking to our Song & rhyme library. Bookbug Primary 1 Family Bag. 3 picture books (shortlisted for Bookbug Picture Book Prize). Activity Book and colouring pencils, Whiteboard and magnetic numbers. Gaelic Bookbug Bags. There are Gaelic versions of each of the Bookbug Bags which include Gaelic translations of the books and accompanying leaflet in Gaelic. Scottish Government Baby Box. We also include 2 board books in the Scottish Government’s Baby Box scheme which goes out to families before their babies are born.
Yes.
Library, Community centre, Health clinic (specifically health visitors), School, Nurseries.
Healthcare workers (usually health visitors, also neonatal staff), librarians, nursery school staff, volunteers, Primary 1 teachers.
We don’t directly use volunteers but some local authorities use volunteers to partially run aspect of the Bookbug programme (eg. run or support Bookbug Sessions.)
We are universal in that the bags go out to everyone and the Sessions are open to all. However, we also have an Outreach programme which targets families who need more support. We mainly do this through our Bookbug for the Home programme which trains professionals and volunteers who work 1/1 with families (eg. social workers, family support workers)
240,000 children receive Bookbug Bags every year.
Prenatal (through the Baby Box), Birth -6 months (Baby Bag gifted between 3-5 weeks); 12 – 24 months (Toddler Bag gifted between 12-14 months); 2-4 years (Explorer Bag gifted to 3 year olds at nursery); 5 year olds gifted P1 Family Bag.
Yes, we have a supply of tactile books for children with ASN. These can be requested. We also have resources on our website with advice on sharing books, songs and rhymes with children with different needs.
English, Gaelic. We also have Bookbug information leaflets translated into the top 9 community languages in Scotland (Arabic, Bengali, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Urdu, Polish, Romanian). We are in the process of updating these.
Impact Study of Bookbug Bags and Sessions published in 2017. Details on our website here https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/bookbug. Evaluation of our Outreach programme available here https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/reading-and-stories/bookbug/bookbug-evaluation.
