Too many children grow up without discovering that reading can be a source of joy.
We call this reading poverty – and it’s not only about economic deprivation. It’s about children who never get to choose a book that excites them, never meet an author who makes stories feel alive and never experience reading as something that belongs to them, rather than something done to them at school.
The BookTastic difference
BookTastic festivals are child-led. Children vote on which authors and illsutrators they want to meet. THe programming is built around their choices, not adults’ assumptions about what they should read.
Festivals are teacher-light by design, so children encoutner books in a space that feels celebratory rather than instructional
The changewe see
74% of kids who attended BookTastic report they now read for fun.
0%
When children get to choose, something shifts. Reading enjoyment among the children we work with rises from 31% before a festival to 74% afterwards. Schools come back: our return rate is 100%. These aren’t one-off events — they’re the start of children seeing themselves as readers.
A generation of children in underserved communicites who read for pleasure because they want to, not because they’re told to – with all the benefits for confidence, attainment, and life chances that follow when reading becomes a lifelong habit rather than a chore.
That’s our mission… and we’re looking for partners.
