Ed Boxall pier workshop

Come along to a free family fun-day on Hastings Pier on Saturday 10 June. Local author and illustrator, Ed Boxall and Hastings Pier have teamed up to create a new children’s book about the Pier, which will be launched on the day. Ed will also be offering free storytelling workshops during the day. Annalise Elam from Imagine Nation writes,

There will be lots of other activities for pre-school children including workshops, music, yoga, stories and a book swap. The day’s events are being hosted by Hastings’ book-gifting charity, Imagine Nation, in partnership with local organisations such as The White Rock Theatre, Hastings Borough Council, East Sussex Library Service, Alexandra Park Greenhouse Group, Hastings Town Singers, Treasure Tots, The Discovery Playground and Karen Shute’s yoga.

Bring along your high quality used children’s books to be able to take part in the book-swap. You might also want to pack a picnic too! Come along to join the fun. 10am – 3pm for under 5’s and their families.

Please see the Hastings Pier Charity website for more details.

And check out the work of Imagine Nation, who currently provide books to children living in supported accommodation in St Leonards on Sea. Imagine Nation’s long-term aim is to provide books to all pre-school children in Hastings and St Leonards.

More about Ed Boxall.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Imagine Nation is affiliated with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Dolly Parton launched Imagination Library in her American home town in Tennessee in 1995, when she realised the benefits that her father would have had if he were not illiterate.

Dolly’s vision was to foster a love of reading among preschool children and their families by providing them with the gift of a specially selected book each month. By mailing high quality, age-appropriate books directly to their homes, she wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could ensure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.

Dolly’s Imagination Library became so popular that in the year 2000 she announced that she would make the programme available for replication to any community that was willing to partner with her to support it locally.

A total of 1,066,324 children are now registered across USA, Canada, UK, Australia and Belize

85+ million books have been posted worldwide since the Imagination Library started in 1995.

32,456 children are currently enrolled in the UK since the launch in 2007. 2 million books sent out including braille and daisy audio versions via RNIB.

Books are selected by a panel of experts in early learning and literacy (UK Book Selection Committee) and are published by Penguin Random House UK.

Each child in the scheme from the age of 0-5 will build up a library of 60 books.

Studies on the effect of children in the scheme have shown that it drastically improves early literacy and school readiness has increased dramatically.

 

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