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McDonald's will be providing free books with each Happy Meal™ sold between now and 15th October. It's all part of their Happy Readers campaign, which is now in its sixth year and which aims to increase book ownership amongst children and encourages families to sit down and read together. Since the campaign's launch in 2013, McDonald's, working with the National Literacy Trust, has given away more than 70 million books, and they hope that this year's event will be bigger than ever. A survey by the Trust last year revealed that almost a fifth of British children aged 5 to 8 don't have any books of their own, and this campaign should go a long way to getting books into the hands of some of those children who most need them. This year’s Happy Readers books feature stories from David Walliams's The World's Worst Children series, illustrated by Tony Ross and published by HarperCollins. The special editions available to collect as part of The Happy Meal promotion include Vain Valentine, Honey The Hogger, Stacey Superstar, Harry Who Never Ever Did His Homework, Miss Petula Perpetual- Motion and Competitive Colin.

Trying to support the reading of a dyslexic child can be daunting - and sometimes even stressful - but help is out there. Publishers Barrington Stoke specialise in producing books which will appeal to children who are either dyslexic or who are simply very reluctant readers. Parents, carers and teachers who have struggled to find suitable books in the past will heave a sigh of relief when they visit Barrington Stokes's website; there is in-depth advice about choosing the right books for each child, practical ways to gauge reading age, and a great choice of books sorted by the age-appropriateness of their content. Many books are ‘hi lo’, meaning the content is appropriate to a particular age but the text is edited to suit a lower reading age - so even teen readers can find stories that suit them. And if all that doesn't leave you confident enough to choose a book for your young reader, you can get them involved by showing them sample pages so that they can make the choice with you. In addition to engaging stories and award-winning illustrations, the books employ specially-designed readable fonts, pages are uncrowded, and printing is on heavier paper with a gentle tint that helps reduce visual stresses. Barrington Stoke was founded 21 years ago by Lucy Juckes and her mother-in-law Patience Thomson, drawing on their respective backgrounds in publishing and dyslexia support. They believe that their super-readable titles can give dyslexic and reluctant readers a lifelong love of books. Testimonials from delighted parents bear out this belief; 'Your books awoke my son’s love for reading. From a frustrated boy to a little book worm'. Visit www.barringtonstoke.co.uk

There are now so many ways for a parent or carer to fulfil this request; pick up a picture book or cartoon book, play an audiobook or an on-screen animation - you can even ask Alexa. Most children will enjoy access to stories from all these sources at some point, but what's really best? A Canadian study published in 2018 gives an insight into what goes on in a child's brain in each of these different scenarios and lead author, Dr John Hutton says that there is an apparent 'Goldilocks effect', with some story sources being too stimulating - 'too hot' - and some doing too little to arouse a child's full attention - 'too cold'. And of course, some are 'just right'. Dr Hutton is a researcher and paediatrician at Cincinnati Children's Hospital with a special interest in 'emergent literacy' - the process of learning to read. His study involved 27 children at the age of around 5. The children's brains were monitored by an MRI scanner as they were presented with three types of stories: audio only; the illustrated pages of a storybook with an audio voiceover; and an animated cartoon. The scanner worked to pick up activity in the language, visual perception and imagination areas of the brain, and also measured connectivity between the brain's different areas. The results confirmed what Dr Hutton had suspected, that audio-only stories stimulate the language area of the brain, but cause little connectivity with other areas - 'too cold'. During the animated cartoon story, the brain scans showed a lot of activity in the audio and visual brain areas, but little connectivity between the two, or indeed with other areas relating to imagination - 'too hot'. Hutton feels that the children were expending a lot of mental energy trying to process what they were seeing and hearing and yet it was in this scenario that their comprehension of the story was the worst. The picture book scenario turned out to be what Hutton called 'just right'. When children could see illustrations, language network activity dropped slightly but the children's understanding of the story was apparently 'scaffolded' by having images as clues, and their comprehension was improved accordingly. Most importantly, in the illustrated book researchers saw increased connectivity between all the networks they were looking at: visual perception, imagery and language - here the children were effectively exercising a mental muscle, bringing imagery to life in their minds, and developing imagination skills and the ability to reflect constructively on what they had seen and heard. And Dr Hutton believes that the effects of looking at a picture book along with an adult may be even more positive than his research suggests; the children in his study had to be enclosed and immobilised in an MRI scanner. Reading side by side with an adult entails layers of bonding and positive exchanges (known as 'dialogic reading') where the adult points out specific words, ask questions or gets a child to point out a feature in an illustration. The important work carried out by our amazing Schoolreaders thus helps develop a child's comprehension, gives vivid inspiration to their imaginations, and is the best possible start to a child's reading life. Dr Hutton's study, "Goldilocks Effect? Illustrated Story Format Seems 'Just Right' and Animation 'Too Hot' for Integration of Functional Brain Networks in Preschool-Age Children", was presented to the North American Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) on 6th May 2018 at a meeting held in Toronto.

If you haven't come across Mariella Frostrup's brilliant Radio 4 programme 'Bringing up Britain', it's well worth visiting BBC Sounds to listen to some past episodes. The show, which examines some of the knotty issues about raising a child in today's world, is just completing its 12th series and has been broadcast since 2008. Frostrup, helped by panellists from the world of education, health and academia, addresses issues like parenting in a digital age, how to nurture critical thinking in chidlren and promoting manners and discipline. Acting as the perfect devil's advocate, Frostrup manages to get the most out of her guests, provoking in-depth discussions that ultimately offer sane and practical ideas for tackling what can feel like overwhelmingly difficult issues.

This year's Schoolreaders Book Club Quiz has been won by Solihull U3A Booklovers Group - congratulations to them! The 13-strong team answered questions on literary sleuths, children's books and classic authors' pets, and clinched the winning slot with their limerick: There once was a volunteer reader Who realised children would need her. Now reading’s a breeze Books tackled with ease Thanks to this literary leader. The team now gets to enjoy a case of Prosecco, and will be having tea with Catherine Alliott, best-selling author of 15 novels. Catherine has just published 'A Cornish Summer', which is described as 'Warm, witty and wise' by the Daily Mail, and 'Hilarious yet poignant' by writer Sophie Kinsella.

Many studies over the years have indicated that socio-economic conditions have a strong bearing on a child's level of attainment at school. But this isn't the whole story. A 2013 study by academics at the University of London Institute of Education shows the importance of reading for pleasure, and demonstrates the way that a positive reading culture - at home and at school - can influence progress in learning vocabulary, spelling and even maths. The study, which followed a sample group of 6,000 individuals, found that children who read for pleasure often at age 10, and read books and newspapers more than once a week at age 16, gain an advantage equivalent to 14.4% in vocabulary, 9.9% in maths, and 8.6% in spelling by the time they are 16. The study was adjusted to take account of parental social background and parents’ own reading behaviour. Interestingly the influence of reading for pleasure was greater than that for having a parent with a degree, although parental education was a positive factor (giving a 4.2% advantage in vocabulary), and was a more important influence than parental economic resources - which were measured on the basis of social class, income and home ownership. 'Social inequalities in cognitive scores at age 16: the role of reading', Alice Sullivan and Matt Brown, September 2013, first published by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London

If you have the lovely prospect of some holiday reading time ahead and are looking for inspiration, The Guardian has listed its top 100 summer reads at www.theguardian.com/books. The list is divided into fiction and non-fiction, and there's also a selection of books for children and young adults. The list recommends some old favourites as well as some relatively unknown books, and this year's top literary prize winners are included. The novels are broken down into 'page turners', 'comedy', 'alternative realities', 'modern life' and so on, and each is presented with a short summary. There really is something for everyone, although some of the more doom-laden tomes in the non-fiction list - featuring Brexit, global warming and surveillance capitalism - might not be quite the thing for your precious hours on the sun-lounger.

If you're a teacher or a parent, please get your school to join our new fundraising campaign. 'Be a Superstar for Schoolreaders' will see children at schools all over the country dressing up as a superstar and joining in fun reading and writing activities. We're asking children (and maybe even teachers) to pay £1 to come to school dressed as someone who inspires them - perhaps a family member, a sports star or a singer, maybe even the family pet! We can't wait to see the costumes. Registering can be done online via our website, and schools can hold their Superstar event on any day between 4th September 2019 and February 2020. We'll provide lots of online resources to run optional Readathons and writing competitions and there will also be lots of stickers and fun classroom resources available. And the best competition entries could win a school visit from a top author, signed books, or a year's subscription to 'Times Tables Rock Stars', an innovative maths learning programme. Please do join us!

If you're a keen runner, perhaps you could raise funds for Schoolreaders by joining the thousands of others who will be running in the Bedford Half Marathon on 1st September 2019. Take on 13.1 miles of beautiful, traffic-free Bedfordshire countryside - the organisers even promise that it will be a mostly flat course! Runners will be welcomed across the finish line at Priory Country Park, where there will be a post-race party with live music, food and entertainment. The Half Marathon is part of Bedford's 3-day running festival (which runs from 30th August to 1st September) and there will be lots of fringe events including an open-air cinema, a street-food market and a comedy club evening. If you're interested in running the half marathon for Schoolreaders, please contact Anna on a.bunney@schoolreaders.org. We'll provide you with lots of support, free t-shirts and a huge cheer when you've finished.

The British Library's new exhibition 'Writing: Making Your Mark' celebrates the act of writing and will provide anyone involved in Schoolreaders with a fascinating and thought-provoking experience. The extraordinary story behind one of humankind’s greatest achievements is examined through more than 100 objects spanning 5,000 years and seven continents. The exhibition follows the evolution of writing from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs carved in stone via early printed text such as William Caxton’s edition of 'The Canterbury Tales', to the art of note-taking by some of history’s greatest minds, and onwards to the digital communication tools we use today. Exhibits are incredibly diverse and include James Joyce’s collection of notes for 'Ulysses' and a 60,000-strong petition against Bengali partition. These sit alongside Burmese tattooing instruments and a new take on typography by the Russian artist El Lissitzky to illustrate how writing allows us to enact change and make a lasting creative mark of our own. Finally the exhibition asks us to reflect on writing’s future and the role it will play in an increasingly digital world. Will we abandon pens and keyboards for voice and video messaging, or continue to carry the traditions of ancient times with us? The exhibition runs until 27th August 2019 www.bl.uk/whats-on

This was the title of children's author Geraldine McCaughrean's talk at the Oxford Literary Festival earlier this month. The double-Carnegie medal winner was interviewed by Suzi Feay, reviewer for the Guardian and the FT, and argued passionately for authors to use challenging and interesting vocabulary and ideas in their books for children. The discussion was based loosely around Geraldine's latest book 'Where the World Ends'. This is the fictional account of a historical event from 1727, when a group of men and boys were put ashore on Hirta in the Outer Hebridean archipelago of St Kilda to go wild fowling, as was the custom every summer. They were abandoned there and her story becomes their story. The discussion initially focused on whether children's books should be strictly age-banded - to which both author and reviewer answered that children should certainly be allowed to read books that deal with tragic and difficult circumstances. Challenging texts for younger readers act as a spur to learn new vocabulary and Geraldine said that 'as a mark of respect - we should expect a lot of our children'. She herself has been challenged on using unusual words in her books, but her answer to that was that 'it is the greatest gift, to give children words and vocabulary'. She has often been asked, even by publishers, to substitute alternative - more recognised - words into her manuscripts, but she feels that it is when one is challenged that one learns and remembers. This lead to a discussion of the falling rates of vocabulary in younger children, and to the reasons for this reduction in speech and, apart from social factors, screens were suggested as a cause. In general it was a most thought provoking and interesting talk, and Geraldine’s books are without a doubt classics of our time. The talk took place in the sublime surroundings of the Divinity School at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, which will be familiar to many at the Hogwarts infirmary in the Harry Potter films.

Our Oxfordshire team has just had a fantastic few days at the Oxford Literary Festival, spreading the word about Schoolreaders and meeting lots of children's authors, all of whom were extremely supportive of what we are doing. Children from local schools filled venues including the Sheldonian Theatre, and heard talks from writers including including Lucy Worsley, Kate Pankhurst, Robin Stevens and Lauren St John. Award-winning author of 108 children's books, Jeremy Strong reduced his audience to helpless laughter with tales of the trials and tribulations of a writer's life. He told the children about his latest book, 'Armadillo and Hare', introducing his heroes, cardigan-wearing Armadillo and tuba-playing Hare. Jeremy says ‘It’s a fact that children learn more readily and faster when they are enjoying themselves, which is why I write funny stories.’ We're delighted that Jeremy has agreed to become a Schoolreaders Author Supporter. The fun continued with a session with performance poet and playwright, Joseph Coelho, who ran an exciting interactive event where he explored the inspiration behind his own writing and encouraged children to write some ‘no rules’ poetry based on their own memories and observations. Another great success with the children was social historian and writer Antonia Keaney who talked about her book 'Percy at the Palace: A Dog's Eye View of Blenheim Palace'. She was accompanied by the hero of her book, her wire-haired dachshund, Percy Piddle. Percy has had unrivalled access to the secrets of Blenheim, whiling away the hours while Antonia works on research there by exploring the lesser known parts of this enormous baroque palace. Tales of Percy's perambulations had the assembled families in stitches and Percy later signed (paw-printed) books for some very happy children.