Two Northern Ireland mums are on a mission to promote reading by hiding books

Two Northern Ireland bookshop owners are on a mission to promote reading for pleasure by hiding books around the local area.

Ballymena mum of four, Katherine Blythman of Tilly’s Tales book store and Jenna Foster, owner of Simba’s Brilliant Bookshop in Randalstown, are launching a new summer book gifting initiative to encourage children and their families to find books, take them home, read and then re-hide again.

Kath and Jenna, working in partnership with publisher Usborne Books, have already hidden 100s of book packs in local parks, schools, hospitals and gardens as part of the Look for a Book community game.

Kath explained: “I’m a mum of four beautiful children and I’ve been running Tilly’s Tales, inspired by my four-year-old daughter, for the last four years.

“Last summer I decided to launch a Look for a Book community game in Ballymena to promote reading for pleasure. This year I’m really making it my mission to make reading more fun and accessible to the community by re-launching the game.

“My littles ones and I go all around the local parks and areas, hiding our book packs sponsored by local businesses for children to find, take home, read and then re-hide again for the next child to find.

“I made up a Facebook group so parents can get hints of where we hide them and the community can post up photos of where they find or rehide the book packs.

“It’s so exciting when pictures come through and it’s great to see the difference the books are having and how they are being used. It’s amazing.

“This year I’m collaborating with another Usborne partner called Jenna Foster of Simba’s Brilliant BookShop in Randalstown to broaden our Look for a Book to include a wider area.”

The aim of the scheme is to combat recent National Literacy Trust statistics which revealed almost one in five children in the UK, between the ages of five and eight, do not own a book of their own.

Jenna continued: “The statistic which estimates over one million children are without a book of their own is heartbreaking and something we are fighting to change together.

"Hopefully we’re reaching some of these children who don’t have access to books."My children have ASD (Autism spectrum disorder) so I’m very passionate about promoting books suitable for SEN.

"We don’t just do normal reading books, we do a vast range of educational books and topics to suit all children and ages especially those with special educational needs.

“This month’s campaign, which begins at the end of July until August 27, aims to help children to continue their learning via reading and beat the summer slide by keeping their learning fresh for when they go back to school.

"We are also planning to hold book parties during this time as well which are always a huge success.”

Funded by themselves and through sponsorship, the pair are calling on local businesses to help fund the purchase of books to help them continue the summer giveaway.

Kath added: “It’s a great game for the community to get involved with and I’m always looking for businesses to sponsor the event who will be featured in our book packs.

“We also promote the businesses who have supported our packs on all of our social media platforms.”

Alongside the Look for a Book project Kath and Jenna travel to local schools, play groups, community groups and more to share books with youngsters and even help fundraise through book fairs to provide reading material for hospitals and schools.