Monday 14th May 2012
I’m backing a national campaign for story-telling to promote literacy in children.
The charity vInspired, which encourages young people aged 14-25 to volunteer in their communities, asked for my help in getting the message out that reading can lead to success in life.
Now an online video has been produced by Bolton Teamv leader volunteer Razaz Salih to support the literacy campaign, featuring an interview with me in which I describe my own childhood reading experiences. My favourite book is Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and my love of reading led to me getting involved in politics as a teenager.
I think we all have a responsibility to encourage kids to read, whether its parents, schools or the community in general, and telling stories is a great way to do it. My message would be that reading is enjoyable, it can open your eyes to so many new things in life and it can make you a better person.
Razaz Salih said:
“Research has shown that one in three children don’t own a book and that a quarter of them don’t think reading is important. They don’t see that there is any link between reading and success. We want to inspire children to enjoy reading.”
To watch the video go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR3QPjMr5d0
To find out more about vinspired and teamv go to http://vinspired.com/teamv