Children in Bootle have limited access to the imaginative world generated by books and literature. Bootle has no bookshop and only 3 small libraries which are all under threat of closure. In recent phonics tests children were better at reading nonsense words than real words - words such as ‘Jazz’ and ‘Turnip’ were not in their vocabulary as these words are not within the experience of a non-book culture. We want to change this as a love of reading can lead to greater life chances.

The Bootle children's literary festival has 4 strands: 1. Taking a famous author into all Bootle primary schools for assemblies and workshops 2. A 2 day literary extravaganza for 600 children hosted by famous authors including workshops on creative writing, illustrating, reading for pleasure and rapping 3. Opening a 2 week pop-up bookshop in the local shopping centre selling new and second hand children's books 4, Children's Poetry competition leading to a published book