Book Trust works with children who need additional support in a number of ways.
Targeted programmes
We believe that with our targeted programmes designed to highlight the importance of reading for pleasure, we have a positive effect on the lives of children from diverse educational, social or economic backgrounds.
Dual language books and guidance
Book Trust provides reading guidance in 29 languages for Bookstart families and in 26 languages for Booktime families. We also supply early years books in dual languages as part of the Bookstart programme.
Additional needs
All our programmes include books for children with additional needs.
- Bookbuzz provides a selection of the titles in braille, large print books and accessible books.
- Booktime provides alternative format titles for children who would benefit from a more accessible title. This includes braille and large print books for a blind or partially sighted child plus books for deaf children and those with needs that may mean story-based picture books like the Booktime titles are less accessible and enjoyable to them.
- The School Library Pack has a range of titles specially selected for special schools.
- The Letterbox Club includes the Letterbox Yellow parcels designed for children in Key Stage 2 (7- to 11-years-old) working below National Curriculum Level 1, with additional educational needs.
- Bookstart has special bookpacks for blind or partially sighted (Booktouch) and deaf children (Bookshine).
- Together, we can use the power of stories and reading to unlock the potential of the UK’s most disadvantaged children.
Book selection
Book Trust reviews a range of high quality books for children and teenagers, which are ideal for reading for pleasure.
We work with a team of independent external reviewers, including teachers, librarians, booksellers, journalists and parents. We also work in consultation with disability specialist Alexandra Strick and children’s books specialist Wendy Cooling. Titles selected include those that reflect the cultural diversity of British young readers and those that contain positive images of disability. The titles we feature encompass a wide variety of genres. We prioritise fiction titles, including picture books and graphic novels, books in translation, books for reluctant readers and collections of short stories and poetry.