Twenty-Twenty Vision: The way forward for Children’s Book Network (A summary for those who are short of time)

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A summary for those who are short of time…

Children’s Book Network approaches 10 years of working with children without books or a love of reading. This is happening in a year of global disaster and disruption.

We cannot, and must not, give up on children who now – more than ever – need the delight of story and the joy of new ideas. To say nothing of the educational advantages being a reader brings.

CBN has developed materials over the years that can be reapplied to fit the new dynamic of a changed world.

Lockdown Learning was the first project we undertook, immediately lockdown was enforced. Every week, for 8-weeks, we distributed 20-page reading and activity books to 100 children. For a further 9-weeks we did the same for 50 children after some classes went back to school. The Happiness Project is an extension of that work. From end September, we will have 5-weeks of exploring what remains joyful in children’s lives and reading.

Workshops are impractical during this fragile time and the protective protocols are too extensive for a small NPO to handle effectively.

Reading Toolboxes will continue – and we have a mass of material from Lockdown Learning that will be incorporated. But we will be concentrating on a pared-down version.

The Book Bag Project – much the same philosophy as the workshops and toolboxes, but cheaper to produce and distribute.

Training for community facilitators. Before the end of the year, we would like to train three local people who will assist our existing anchor-woman – Vuyo Siza.

We will need to raise money if we are to continue to work with these vulnerable, non-reading, children. If you can help, please go to: https://www.childrensbook.co.za/network/get-involved

Watch our Children’s Book Network video here, where we talk about what we do, show you what we’ve been up to during our nations lockdown, and celebrate our programme and its supporters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGDjLB9Y9Lc&t=33s

(Read the full article here: https://www.childrensbook.co.za/news/2020/09/23/twenty-twenty-vision-way-forward-children%E2%80%99s-book-network)

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