COMPLETE READING TOOLBOX RED R12 500 GREEN R13 500 BLUE R14 500 EACH THEMED BOOK-BAG R4 000 Includes Reading and Story Companion Book at R1 000 each and published books to the value of R2 500, R3 500 and R4 500 respectively. ADDITIONAL THEMED READING GAMES R500 each Books in the Book-Bag Titles may vary according to availability, […]
COSTS OF CHILDREN’S BOOK NETWORK READING TOOLBOXES Read More »
There is huge potential to develop the Reading Toolbox Project into a viable business providing jobs and increasing skills, particularly in under-served communities. The initial research and development have been done over the last ten years, with funding from interested individuals and organizations who see the urgent and important need to help children to read
Community Development and commercial opportunity Read More »
Reading is not a sport. You won’t find it at the Olympics. But you can be an Olympian Reader if you train for it and work at it. Where do I get the books? This is the hard part, especially if you live in a rural area, or one where there are few (or no)
The big secret to empowering reading children is not too difficult to work out. Give them books. Give them books that are interesting, exciting and fun, books that attract them and get them reading without thinking about it. Children’s Book Network has, over the last twelve years, assembled a reading list of note – one
THE HUNDRED BOOKS PROJECT Read More »
The plan is simple and has three parts: Find donors for reading toolboxes, or individual reading book-bags. There will be 5 boxes in all (3 are complete and 4 more will be ready by the third term, with the balance by the end of the year.) Produce one-page reading material (from the handbooks) for every
CHILDREN’S BOOK NETWORK Reading Rescue Plan 2026 Read More »
The Reading Companions (handbooks) Our whole approach is directed at the children themselves. We believe that young people are completely underestimated. They are capable of just about anything if given the right tools. The tools we give them are themed sets of specially written stories and a collection of wild and wonderful books to lead
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT OUR METHOD? Read More »
This exciting approach to reading aims to interest and excite young readers with themed stories, non-fiction, writing and thinking ideas, poems and activities in 15 reading and story Companions, containing in all over 1 500 pages of new, unpublished material. The programme is addressed to the readers themselves who can work at their own pace through
CHILDREN’S BOOK NETWORK (CBN) READING TOOLBOXES Read More »
GENERAL: This year we are working from a more organized base – and with a bigger team. We will try to keep the goals more attainable and not exhaust everybody along the way. The need is greater than ever and the support is growing. We just have to get on with it. WORKSHOPS: (Workshop
CHILDREN’S BOOK NETWORK 2026 Read More »
Putting children and books on the same page Working with the ‘missing middle’ Over the last twenty years, South Africa has given serious priority to Early Learning (Ages 4 to 7 years). Starting at the beginning makes excellent educational sense and serious financial and practical attention has been directed at this age group. After
CHILDREN’S BOOK NETWORK – THE MISSING MIDDLE Read More »
When you can read well, you don’t even think about it. You just do it. When you can’t read well, life can easily turn into a series of dead-ends. Starting with Grade Four, when you suddenly encounter subjects in a new language. We keep hearing that, officially, three out of four children aged 10 can’t
What Children’s Book Network believes about reading Read More »
Reading with the red toolbox Help with Encouraging Reading – Quick Notes Welcome to Children’s Book Network! Our Reading Toolbox Project has 5 toolboxes – covering Grades 5 to Grade 7 and upwards into High School. The toolboxes have been created to offer help with reading outside normal school hours. Each toolbox contains a
Children’s Book Network – A Year of Reading Read More »
The toolbox project, which was always the main thrust of our long-term activities, has taken wing. All the content has all been created for the Red Reading Project. The Books and Stories Handbook has been printed, with some distributed locally to sister projects in Soweto, Prince Albert and Calitzdorp, and the second edition has been
THE TOOLBOX PROJECT May 2025 Read More »
After much advance planning, we accomplished a five-day workshop mission to Calitzdorp, continuing over the Swartberg Pass to a meeting of minds in Prince Albert with the Slimlappies Project that works with the same age group as we do (10-15 years). We gave four reading workshops in Caliztdorp (report separate) and held two meetings with
OUTREACH WORKSHOPS IN KLEIN KAROO AND KAROO Read More »
We have been warmly welcomed by two prestigious local initiatives in connection with the Reading Toolbox Project. Grootbos Trust has offered advice and collaboration on both the Blue Toolbox material (particularly on veld foods and survival in the wild) and – more particularly on the Green Toolbox, which will begin very shortly (The Environment). We
GENERAL This is a year of extremely hard work and the culmination of plans that have been in development for the last ten years – building to a crescendo during this one. We have active development as well as funding partners, but we have been going through the inevitable bottleneck when work exceeds capacity. We
CBN REPORT MAY 2025 Read More »
Workshops and training continue as usual – thanks to Wilien’s hard work and steady funding from Rotary Rottweil dedicated to this purpose. Regular workshops in Stanford are at three venues weekly. Training workshops will increase as we work with more trainees and the usual once-a-term big workshop in Hermanus continues. As part of our Monitoring
LOCAL WORKSHOPS IN STANFORD (FUNDED BY ROTARY ROTTWEIL) Read More »
Funding will always be a major preoccupation, and we cannot express enough gratitude to private donors in USA who have enabled the Toolbox Project to continue and who have a total understanding of the need for running expenses to keep this show on the road. The Reading Toolbox Project is coming to fruition largely because
FUNDING APPEALS – THANKS AND NEEDS Read More »
Calitzdorp and Kruis Rivier During the week of 8 to 16 April, a small and very dedicated CBN team of five people visited four schools in the Klein Karoo to hold a series of workshops in the rural area in and around Calitzdorp. Basing ourselves at Red Rock Hills Guest Farm, we stayed in two
CBN Steps Out – A major outreach project during April Read More »
This is not a proposed project. It is a project that is nearly complete. The Red reading Toolbox is signed off to the editors. The Blue Reading Toolbox will be launched during heritage month in September. The Green Reading toolbox is in progress. The biggest part of a three-year dedicated reading project was the: Concept
What Do We Need? Help. Investment. Funding. Read More »
Children’s Book Network has been successfully working with children to encourage reading for 13 years. Beginning in Red Hill Informal Settlement (above Simon’s Town), we gave workshops and began developing our reading material with older teenagers and then with our target age-group of ages 10-15. The Red Reading Toolbox Project started here. A move to
CBN – History and Vision Read More »
