Mad Fans with a Box of Books

I want to clear up a slight misunderstanding that some readers may have about our project.  Some people may think that this project is about Doctor Who.  It is not.  It is about something more important than Doctor Who.  I realise that’s a shocking statement for some of you.  This project is about Children’s Literacy. 

All across the country, no make that all across the world, there are children that are switched off to reading.  They regard reading as something you are only made to do in schools.  They have no books at home and rarely see an adult read.  The only person who enthuses about books is their teacher.  Reading is hard work for them and there are so many other easier distractions, like You Tube, Computer games and TV.

We at Target Who believe that a love of reading is the most important gift you can give a child.  When a child reads they increase their vocabulary.  As their vocabulary grows, so does their self-confidence, their self-esteem and most importantly their ability to communicate.  Everything they do in life will be influenced by their ability to communicate.  Everything from first talking to that person they find attractive, to sitting in that job interview.  This project is only possible by our ability to communicate; to you; to the press; to the schools; to everyone.  We have an idea that may seem impossible; to spread 14,000 books around the country to schools at little cost to ourselves.  We will achieve this by communicating our passion for improving children’s literacy to our friends and relatives and many others.  We are blogging, Tweeting, Posting, Telephoning, Meeting and using every way possible to achieve our aims.  It all comes down to our ability to communicate, and those skills improved when we began to read. 

For us at Target Who that first book that made us lifelong readers was a Doctor Who book.  When we see children in schools and witness their current passion for the current Doctor Who series, we recognise ourselves as children from many decades past.  Some of these children are disinterested in reading, but they are passionate about Doctor Who.  We know that and teachers know that, but with budget cuts and rising costs school libraries cannot harness that passion by introducing their children to their passion in book form.  We can.  We can’t reach every school.  We can’t give many books.  We would rather give a FEW books to MANY schools, rather than the many to a few.

We know that when some children see these books they will be drawn to them like moths to a flame.  They will WANT to read them. They will read them.  It may be a challenge at times, forcing them to look up a word or two in a dictionary, but they will read them.  Some will be forever changed.  Some will realise that books aren’t just pages of words. They aren’t just something a teacher forces them to read.  They will realise that books are something that can be enjoyed for pleasure.  They will finish that book and they will reach for another and keep reaching.  They will become bookworms and they will flourish.  We know.  We were those children once.

We are Target Who.  We are Mad Fans with a Box of Books.  We will do all we can to spread the joy of reading amongst your children.  We hope you will too.