This item was prepared by Northamptonshire County Council

More than 600 children living in foster care and residential care homes in the county are the focus of a new reading campaign by Northamptonshire County Council and a national charitable foundation.

Booked for Life is an initiative funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation which aims to foster a love of books and reading among children who are looked after by the council.

Children who are looked after by the Council, because of their circumstances, may not have been encouraged to read books or use libraries. The aim of the project is to improve the life chances of these children by providing them with opportunities to visit libraries and access books.

Kim Brine, 33 years, has been a foster carer for five years and has looked after 28 children in that time. Kim said: "I've always been a library user myself and encouraged my foster children to visit our local library so I was very interested when I found out about the Booked for Life project.

"I used to have to use my own library card to get books for the children because of the problems that foster children have in getting library cards. Now, it's a lot easier for them to borrow books and other materials."

Kim is keen to encourage the children in her care to get into books and libraries. She said: "Sometimes, there is reluctance among the children when I suggest visiting the library if they haven't had any experience with libraries before. But that changes when we get there and they realise that they can have access to computers, CDs and DVDs as well as books. At that point they became quite keen."

Judith Christian is another Northamptonshire carer whose foster children have benefited from the project: "One of the children in my care took part in a Booked for Life open day and talked about it for days afterwards. She's been looking at books trying to decide what to buy with her £10 book token. She thinks she might buy the next Jacqueline Wilson book. She is definitely more interested in books and libraries now and was very surprised that she could request books at the library.

"The project is very generous to give every child a £10 book token and the project worker visiting the support groups has really made a difference. It has been really useful hearing about all the events and activities that are happening in libraries for children."

As well as focusing on children, the project will also raise awareness among adults who work and live with them about the services and facilities that are available in libraries. For example, one of the aims of the project is to encourage foster carers and the children they look after to have a library card.

Since January 2005 a project worker has visited foster carer support groups across the county to promote foster carer library membership and library activities for children. During this time, over twenty foster carers have joined the library as a foster carer. This membership entitles foster carers to have an extra children's ticket so that they can borrow books for the children they care for. The project has been met with enthusiasm by foster carers across the county.

Councillor Rosemary Bromwich, cabinet member for community services, said: "We're all familiar with the traditional image of a young child perched on their parent's knee, enthralled by the story that's being read aloud. For many of the children in our care, that simply hasn't featured as part of their childhood. The result is that we have children who are reluctant, unconfident or indifferent when it comes to picking up a book, and that's something we really want to tackle. We want to teach our children how rewarding and stimulating books can be. We want to introduce them to a skill that that they can benefit from for the rest of their lives."

The campaign has a series of measurable targets, which include:
* distributing a Booked for Life goodie bag, which contains a book token so they can buy and own a book of their own, a voucher for a free loan of DVD or video from the library on joining, and library information, to every child in care in the county
* setting up small book collections in the council's three residential care homes, focusing on popular contemporary fiction
* distributing audiobooks for children who travel to school by taxi so they can listen to stories on their journeys
* organising author visits and workshops in libraries, with the authors chosen by the children themselves
* organising IT sessions for foster carers in libraries to help carers support children's curriculum-based learning.

The campaign will run for two years and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation has contributed £40,000 to the campaign with additional costs being met by the council.

For more information about library services for foster carers and children in care, members of the public contact Nuala Salter, Booked for Life Advocate, on 07841 959129.