HarperCollins UK has Launched Book Squad to Encourage Reading for Pleasure

HarperCollins UK's Book Squad promotes enjoyable reading in primary schools with free content, awards, and resources to foster a love for reading.

on Jun 26, 2024

HarperCollins UK has Launched Book Squad to Encourage Reading for Pleasure

HarperCollins UK has established Book Squad, a new cooperation between education and children's imprints Collins, HarperCollins Children's Books, Farshore, and Barrington Stoke that aims to promote reading for enjoyment in primary schools.

According to HarperCollins, Book Squad was created to assist "break down and dispel the perception of reading as a subject to learn, instead creating a culture where reading is enjoyed".

Book Squad, which is hosted on collins.co.uk, will provide free access to unique children's literature content, in-depth research, guidance, reading recommendations for all ages and interests, and free teaching tools. Book Squad also includes exclusive content from HarperCollins' best-selling children's authors and artists.

The Book Squad website will also host the Reading for Pleasure Awards, which are held in cooperation with the Open University and the UK Literacy Trust. Award-winning entries will be included on the site as case studies, providing inspiration for instructors wanting to implement new activities in their classrooms and foster a reading for pleasure culture.

Collins' managing director, Alex Beecroft, stated: "With this exciting and diverse range of new content and resources, our goal is to engage, inspire, and support teachers as they develop a culture of reading for pleasure in their schools."

Cally Poplak, managing director and publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books and Farshore, stated, "Our 2023 Storytime in School research indicates that frequently reading aloud to children is highly effective at motivating independent reading and also has a positive impact on mental health and wellbeing, with 65% of boys and 76% of girls agreeing that story time makes them feel calm."

Book Squad aims to break down and dispel the myth that reading is a subject to be learned, instead creating a culture in which reading is enjoyed, exciting and engaging books are created, and reading is chosen by all children.