Learning to love reading with Bookmark (and football)

Ben, 5, lives in Camden. His mother, a single parent, works long hours, and despite her best efforts, she is unable to devote a lot of time to reading with him. His older brother, Liam, does try to read with Ben, but he’ll always read him the magazines or books that he enjoys, and as he is 6 years older that Ben, Ben struggles to understand them. His teacher put him forward for the Bookmark programme because she had noticed that he was falling behind the rest of his class.

When Ben started the programme, he told his volunteer Will, that he hated reading and didn’t think it was for him. Will asked him a bit more about this, and realised that he didn’t enjoy reading because he had never had the chance to read about the things that he liked.

Will returned for the second session with some football annuals, knowing that Ben loved football, and Ben was absolutely transfixed. He loved turning to the pages about his favourite players and, for the first time, showed a real enthusiasm for reading. Over the next few weeks, Ben’s reading improved noticeably, but Will also noticed that his attention span really improved, and he was so much more focused on the session. Having been so reluctant to attend his very first session, he then started running to meet Will when he knew that his session was about to begin.

Ben went from hating reading to feeling sad that his reading programme was over. At the end, he told Will “I wish we could keep reading together. You make reading fun.” Will was then invited to join the school for their Christmas lunch, and Ben decided he wanted to sit with Will, rather than with the rest of his friends. He then decided to give Will his Christmas hat to say thank you for his help with reading. His teacher said that it was clear Ben’s time with Will had had a real impact on him.