Reading Force

I worked with Reading Force for the first time today.

I'll let you visit their website to find the full detail of what they do, but this is what their founder, Alison Baverstock says on that website. It's what made me very keen to work with them.

'Over the years, when my husband was away [in the Army], we would communicate through books. I would send him things I had read, he’d read them, and then we would talk on the phone about our reactions. And as the children got older we involved them too. Some good conversations resulted. Reading together created common ground and the opportunity to connect, and provided a welcome distraction from the stresses and strains of so many long separations.

'In 2010 I had the idea of encouraging other Service families to share books and talk about them, and to offer them special scrapbooks to fill up. This became Reading Force. Started in Aldershot in 2011, the scheme has grown in popularity ever since.'

I have been working in reader development for twenty years. I've done it in libraries, prisons, pubs, football stadiums, on trains in the UK and in Malaysia, Korea and Russia. But Reading Force strikes me as one of the very best examples of what reader development can achieve.

Reader development is about bringing people together to talk about reading, to share reactions to books. What better project can you invent for reader development than Reading Force?

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Today I visited Le Cateau Primary School at Catterick Garrison. They are a school that uses the Reading Force scheme with forces families. I was there for two reasons.

One was to play my Football Reading Game with the kids. It's about getting children talking about books together, essentially.

The other reason I was there was to ask the children what they thought of the book I am writing for Barrington Stoke.

I was offered a group of ten year fives by Le Cateau. They were given a manuscript copy of the book I am working on, In Harms Way. It is the story of a fourteen year old boy moving to a new school - and having to play rugby, against his wishes - while his dad is taking part in a conflict, flying Typhoon fighter aircraft.

Eight of the ten year fives I spoke to have parents in the Forces.

You can see why it was useful to me. If I am going to write about children with parents who are involved in a conflict, I can't just make up how that feels.

Happily the children liked the book. They had some good points to make. They corrected me. And that was very welcome. It'll be a better book thanks to the conversation we had today.

It was a great day for me. I'd like to thanks Reading Force and I hope we can do more together in the future.

Have a look at the Reading Force website and see what you think.

Thanks for reading.