Mostly Book Talk

For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how you can get involved.

In this episode we are joined by Amy Lewis, Head of Coram Beanstalk.

Coram Beanstalk work with primary, secondary and virtual schools to enable children to grow a love for reading. They provide one-to-one in person reading support, giving children the help and encouragement they need to find books that inspire and delight, setting children on a path to become readers for life.

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For Part 6 we asked all our interviewees for one thing they would do to address the reading crisis. Properly funded libraries and librarians were unsurprisingly a strong theme, but also a rethink about how we position children's reading - how do we find the space for children to read and support children to experience the power and enjoyment of reading so they find their own routes into reading, and choose to do it. 

For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode):

Dapo Adeola - Author and the illustrator of many books including Look Up!, Clean Up!and My Dad is a Grizzly Bear.

Sita Brahmachari - Author of many books including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Fall and Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author, with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor, of Beyond the Secret Garden 

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School 

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog 

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

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For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved.

In this episode we are joined by Andrea Reece who is the Managing Editor of the children's book magazine Books for Keeps.

Started in the 1980s, Books for Keeps is a treasure trove of information about children's books and authors. It includes reviews and recommendations, a news and events section and regular essays about topics in children's literature, as well as an extensive digital archive going back over 40 years. It is a must read for anyone interested in children's literature and reading.

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In this episode we talk with Nadia Shireen about the mad and upredictable world of Grimwood and book five in the series, Rock the Vote! which has recently come out in paperback. 

Listen in to find out where Nadia gets her ideas from, how she writes, why illustrations are so important and what Titus's best cake would be.

Nadia can be found on Instagram here

Her Grimwood books can be found here:

Grimwood

Grimwood: Let the fur fly!

Grimwood: Attack of the Stink Monster!

Grimwood: Party Animals

Grimwood: Rock the Vote!

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In this episode we talk to author Sophy Henn about her new picture book I Want Everything! - which is about how sometimes it might feel like you want everything, but when you really think about it you probably don't... We also discuss the latest installment in her action packed and madcap Happy Hills graphic novel series, Cheesy Bob Strikes!

Sophy can be found on Instagram here

And the books we mentioned can be found through these links

I Want Everything!

Cheesy Bob Strikes!

Pizazz

Bad Nana - Older not Wiser

Lifesize Dinosaurs

The Best Worst Day Ever

Pom Pom Gets the Grumps

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In part 5 we continue looking at what works to support reading for pleasure, focusing more this time on opportunities for authors to engage with readers and the importance of wider family and community involvement and spaces to discover and talk about books.

For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode):

Dapo Adeola - Author and the illustrator of many books including Look Up!, Clean Up!and My Dad is a Grizzly Bear.

Sita Brahmachari - Author of many books including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Falland Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author, with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor, of Beyond the Secret Garden 

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School 

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog 

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

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We are joined by author Sarah Crossan to talk about her new verse novel, Gone for Good. It is a read in one go thriller about the troubled teen industry. Sixteen-year-old Connie is kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken to a 'behaviour modification programme' at Silver Lake and quickly gets drawn into the mystery of where missing resident Belle has gone to.

We also talk about Sarah's thoughtful posts on social media about putting away our screens and reading for pleasure.

Sarah can be found on Instagram here.

And here are some of the books we discuss:

Gone for Good

Toffee

The Weight of Water

One

Where the Heart Should Be

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In part 4 we hear more about what we should be doing to address the decline in children’s reading for pleasure. In this episode we focus on approaches in schools and how to involve staff and pupils in creating a reading for pleasure culture.

For this series we interviewed the following people (not all feature in every episode):

Dapo Adeola - Author and the illustrator of many books including Look Up!, Clean Up!and My Dad is a Grizzly Bear.

Sita Brahmachari - Author of many books including Artichoke Hearts, When Shadows Falland Phoenix Brothers

Dr Darren Chetty - Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education and author, with Professor Karen Sands O'Connor, of Beyond the Secret Garden 

Professor Teresa Cremin - Professor of Education and Co-Director of the Literacy and Social Justice Centre at The Open University

Charlotte Hacking - Teacher Engagement Lead at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Pedagogy and Research and Curriculum Lead at Herne Hill School 

Jenny Hawke - Children's Librarian and Chair of the Youth Library Group

Tom Palmer - Author of many books including Angel of Grasmere, Resist and War Dog 

Glynn Palmer–Bell - Assistant Director of English at Castle View Enterprise Academy, Sunderland

Louie Stowell - Author of many books including the Loki series, Otherland and the Dragon in the Library

Sabrina Sulliman - English teacher at Southfields Academy, South West London

At the end of the series we will invite comments and ideas from listeners so look out for how you can contribute to the discussion.

Many thanks to everyone we interviewed and to our Co Producer Belinda Naylor.

Send us a message

For the National Year of Reading, we are sharing a series of short conversations with people who are involved in promoting reading with young people. This could be a programme, resources or a literary event, and we're giving them the opportunity to share what they do and how people can get involved.

In this episode we are joined by Tanja Jennings, who is the joint Northern Ireland Representative on the Youth Libraries Group.

Information about the Carnegies can be found here.

Information about the Members' Fest can be found here.

The Youth Libraries Group recommendations on Bookshop.org can be found here. 

And if you are interested in The Youth Library Review or newsletters, you can get more information from [email protected].

Tanja Jennings write a blog, Good Night to Read, about books and reading which can be found here.

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In this episode we talk to Susannah Lloyd about the latest instalment in her Badgers are Go! series, Revenge of the Claw. Illustrated by Nici Gregory.

We cover lots of ingenious disguises, pudding references and doing all the voices! Also the importance of having children who can help you name your characters.

You can find out more about Susannah Lloyd's books here.

The books we discussed can be found here:

Badgers are Go!

Badgers are Go! Revenge of the Claw

Who Ate Steve?

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