Innovation Fund Storymakers Project

I am delighted be be working with Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council and Stone Soup on a fabulous project based in four libraries. The project aims to:

- help get pre-school children school ready

- introduce parents to library services

- run regular interactive storytelling sessions for young families

- work with families to create four picture books, one for each library

From Spring 2017 to the end of the year, parents and their pre-school children have been attending weekly, high-energy storytelling sessions with Stone Soup's Simon Sullivan. These sessions include stories, songs and parachute games and are designed to help families access library services and find out more about enjoying books with their children.

I began work on the project in September 2017, alongside Adam Pryce, a very versatile illustrator and designer who has worked on several school and community projects.

Together we are working with families to create four linked picture books which include lots of actions and sounds to help very young children engage with books and stories. Parents have been involved at every stage and the feedback so far has been fantastic.

The project concludes in February with a celebration event for everyone who has taken part. Every family will receive a copy of the book they have contributed to. Tameside MBC are also planning an exhibition, which will be mounted in Tameside Central Library, where members of the public will be able to find out about the project and see how the books were made.

Find out more