Care-experienced children live, or have lived, in foster, residential or kinship care.
Give a child a brighter future by supporting Reading Heroes this Christmas. Your donations will recruit, train and support volunteers to give the space, time and attention children need to develop confidence and build self-esteem through the joy of reading aloud, together.
About Reading Heroes
Over 23,000 children were living in care in England in 2024.
For many, adverse life experiences result in challenges at school, struggles with mental health, and heightened risk of homelessness and unemployment compared to their non-care-experienced peers.
Reading Heroes addresses these barriers by promoting a love of reading and the development of strong and wholly positive social bonds.
Each child reads 1:1 with a trained volunteer weekly for 6-9 months Stories and poems are read aloud together and thoughts, feelings and ideas that are sparked are explored in a safe space. Reading sessions take place online (or in person if aged under 5) and all books are provided. Using a child-led approach we offer choice from a range of literature curated around individual interests to spark a lifelong passion for reading.
“Maybe in 10 years’ time, he’ll spot me in the supermarket and say: ‘You’re the person who used to read with me!’ and tell me that perhaps it helped him. I’d tell him what a pleasure it was.”
Fiona, Reading Heroes volunteer.
Give the life-long gift of reading for pleasure
£8 buys a book for a young Reading Hero
£30 supports onboarding costs for a volunteer
£50 helps us find and recruit volunteers for our Reading Heroes
£70 trains a volunteer to read with a care experienced child
£350 recruits, trains and supports one volunteer over a Reading Heroes placement
The Reading Heroes project has real and lasting positive effects, with children and carers reporting the significant changes in the children we work with:
-
82%
greater confidence
-
79%
higher self-esteem
-
74%
improved wellbeing
-
79%
increased enjoyment of reading
-
84%
something to look forward to
“Reading Heroes is such a wonderful, wonderful idea. To be read to somehow touches part of a child that is buried deep in our ancestral history. Giving a story is such an act of kindness, goodness and understanding.
You can fob a youngster off with devices, games and even with books, but nothing comes close to the sharing out loud of a story. Care-experienced children especially need to feel the warmth, delight and affection that this simple act can offer.
I salute you, Reading Heroes … you are doing wonderful things.”
Stephen Fry
Other ways you can help...
Fundraise for us
Thank you for choosing to fundraise for The Reader – by supporting us you’re helping to keep Shared Reading free,...
Become a Volunteer
You don’t need to be from a certain walk of life or be a literature expert to volunteer with us....
Corporate Packages
A relationship with The Reader offers a unique opportunity to support a charity making a significant positive impact on adults...
