What?

There are children's reading clubs and there is Ed's Reading Room! Our aim is to recommend some of the best recently published books for children to enjoy, on their own or with a parent or friend - at home or in groups at school. Ed's Reading Room Owls is for age 7 and over and Ed's Reading Room Owlets is for the under 7s. Choose from your particular age group or select according to your child's ability. And if you have any questions or you would like any reading-related ideas or support, you can email Ed and Maggie.

When?

Each month in Ed's Reading Room, Book of the Month selections are available for each year group within Owls and Owlets, with specially written complementary activities including word searches, poetry and quizzes which help develop children's reading skills and confidence with the written word. Then, to buy a Book of the Month selection, all you need to do is click on the Amazon icon and have it sent direct to your door.

How?

In addition to enjoying Ed's Reading Room on your own at home, starting your own Ed's Reading Room with others can also be fun and rewarding. You could set up Ed's Reading Room with friends, family members - even just a child with a grandparent - or neighbours, meeting either at home, a library, a community centre or some other suitable venue.

Fix a place and time each month to read and talk about the book selections, perhaps working through the activities together. Each group can have any number of members, from two to seven or eight, but try to keep the group manageable enough to encourage open discussion where each child has an opportunity to have their say and feel part of the group.

You might want to set up an Ed's Reading Room online, which could be as small or large as you want it to be, sharing Ed's Reading Room book selections and discussing them by email with children, friends, family members and teachers at school by email.

So how do you begin? Send the word out. Create an email list of all your friends and other interested parties and ask them to register for and bookmark Ed's Reading Room, and ask them to email all their friends. Or post a flyer at your local library or community centre asking for others to join in the Ed's Reading Room you are setting up. Or ask your school to put up a notice or send a letter out to parents.

Why?

To enhance your children's love of books and reading; to improve their confidence in reading skills; and to discover recently published books by lots of different authors to excite their imagination or for the best reason of all - because reading is fun with Ed!