Gordon Brown and Education Secretary Ed Balls were joined by a group of schoolchildren and children’s writers at 10 Downing Street for the launch of the National Year of Reading.
Children from City of London Academy and Loxford School of Science and Technology created ‘reading corners’ with beanbags and cushions and chatted with the Prime Minister about their favourite books.
Read the transcript for the film below:
Man:
In the old wood, it’s the beetles he lifts with his nose, and out on the pasture he borrows my rams and my pedigree ewes for his pedigree lambs.
Girl:
That’s really good.
Ed Balls:
2008 is the national year of reading, and our plan is to have events all across the country, all year round, this year, to try and get more young people and adults reading, enjoying reading but also getting the benefits which can come from reading. And we’ve been here in Downing Street today to launch the national year with a group of very eminent authors but also experts from round the country who are campaigning and promoting reading in the local libraries and schools, in prisons and with young people, to talk about what we can do together, to use the opportunity of the national year of reading to get that reading habit to more young people and to more parents across the country.
Gordon Brown:
So let’s set a big ambition for this year that we do have millions more people knowing about the importance of reading, thousands who can’t read able to read for the first time, and everybody reading more and reading more of their favourite stories written by the authors who are here today.
Ed Balls:
I was really shocked when I saw one fact, which is 15% of children will never have a story read to them by their parents. I know most parents are reading to their kids, but we need every parent to be reading to their children, because it’s fun but it also really helps children to learn.
Gordon Brown:
This is a very famous book. This has been a very successful one, hasn’t it? And you’ve read it all, have you?
Girl:
Yeah, I’ve read it all. A couple of times.
Gordon Brown:
You’ve read it twice. And will you read it again?
Girl:
Definitely.
Gordon Brown:
Yeah. Anybody else read The Curious Incident?
Ed Balls:
We think this national year of reading is a big opportunity to run local campaigns but also to use national TV programmes to work with the booksellers themselves and the authors to promote the fun and the excitement of reading.
Girl:
I’m reading Magenta Orange, and it’s a really interesting book.
Boy:
My book is Percy Jackson. It’s about a half-boy and half-god. Two thumbs up. Great.
Girl:
I’m reading Inkheart. Yeah, it’s good. I’ve read it about twice already.
Sophie Kinsella:
Hi, I’m Sophie Kinsella, author of the Shopaholic books, and I’ve been so delighted to be here today to meet the prime minister at Number 10 and to hear from so many people about what we’re all going to do to support the national year of reading. Reading is crucial and it’s fun and it really, really matters to all of us, so I’m going to do anything I can. And I think there’s a whole bunch of people out there, all with different initiatives, and I think it’s going to be absolutely brilliant, so watch this space.
Ed Balls:
And the children we’ve met today here in Downing Street also are really passionate about reading as well. We need to spread that passion around the country. That’s the challenge for the national year of reading. And if, by the end of the year, we’ve got more people reading and we’ve got more parents reading, we’ve got more employers promoting reading as well, then we’ll have succeeded.
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