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working with poets and artists to express some of the young people’s feelings and experiences, and to provide training on the importance and impact of reading to care workers in the residential homes.


Key learning from the scheme included:


1. The importance of building rapport and a sense of trust. It’s often the case that young people who are looked after have been through numerous care providers through no fault of their own. This can result in scepticism surrounding the adults who often appear in their life somewhat transitory. A sense of continuity and trust is incredibly important as a foundation to work.


2. Young people often felt initial apathy or intimidation about entering library spaces. It was important to begin by taking the service to them and providing collections of books on site. There were sometimes issues with residential care home staff feeling these collections needed to be protected and preventing open-access to them. Staff training formed a core part of the project.


3. Selection of stock was important, popular stock included titles with lots of appeal including high-interest low abilities titles, non-fiction, graphic novels, poetry and verse novels and short


Autumn-Winter 2025


Libraries and the collections they hold can offer important services and insights into the life situations young people might be facing.


form celebrity biographies all proved popular.


4. It was important to recognise and remove some of the barriers, to make libraries a welcome space. Facilitated introductions to staff when visiting the library was useful as was the removal of fines and any service changes.


5. Connecting with virtual schools or looked after children in education groups can be a valuable way to gain insights and access to young people who can otherwise be hard-to-reach.


Whereas the Lancashire scheme was aimed at older children in residential care, funding from the Siobhan Dowd Trust, enabled a project working with younger children looked after in foster care. The Picture Book Party project was devised to be participatory and celebratory using previous winners of the Carnegie Medal for Illustration. Cassie Kemp, Chair of the Youth Libraries Group (YLG) East Midlands and Alison King, Chair of YLG led this in their areas. The scheme used illustration as an access point for reading, sharing books and participating in themed creative activities. The following past winners of the Carnegie Medal for Illustration were chosen to give a broad range of interest appeal, styles, types of storytelling and to offer rich opportunities for associated crafts and activities.


Small in the City (Sydney Smith 2021); Dogger (Shirley Hughes 1977);


Harris Finds His Feet (Catherine Rayner 2009); Zoo (Anthony Browne 1992); Wolves (Emily Gravett 2005);


The Jolly Postman’s Christmas (Janet and Allan Ahlberg 1991); That Is Not My Hat (Jon Klassen 2014); Mister Magnolia (Quentin Blake 1980);


I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato (Lauren Child 2000);


The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon (Mini Grey 2007).


Alison started her project by gauging initial impressions. “When the books were laid out, we created a scale using paper plates with different expressions. With a sad face, okay face and happy face arranged in a line on the floor, I asked participants to help determine where along the scale each book should go.” This encouraged discussions about tastes and feelings. “We talked about the covers of the books and what appealed to them. We thought about why certain books appealed more than others. When we were finished, we had the running order for our sessions.”


Alison and Cassie both ran sessions PEN&INC. 25


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