ReadWell brings the therapeutic power of books and storytelling to children in hospital

Children in hospital can feel stressed, isolated, bored, worried and miserable.

In consultation with hospital and education staff in several children’s hospitals ReadWell was established in 2010 to help these children through the therapeutic powers of reading. We bring books and professional storytellers to these unfortunate children to help take their minds off their situation, ease their worries, and entertain them. We also bring them carefully-chosen books to help ensure they don’t also suffer educationally by falling behind at school.

We do this in three very important ways:

• We give new books every month for children at the hospital to read, share and keep
• We give them a specially-designed, handcrafted mobile bookcase to give every child access to the books – even those who are confined to their bed, as the books can be wheeled across for them to choose
• We bring them regular, free visits from a professional storyteller

We are currently providing these vital services to children’s hospitals in Bristol, Birmingham and Oxford – with great ambitions to spread the good news across all UK children’s hospitals and children’s wards over the coming months and years.

How we raise the money

The money for ReadWell comes from three principal sources.

We use some of the money raised through sponsorship in Readathon, the UK’s national sponsored reading event.

Secondly, part of Readathon’s appeal is that, through a partnership with Scholastic Book Clubs, we can offer participants free books for their school – but they can select to donate these to ReadWell.

Thirdly, and very importantly, we ask for donations. Please give as generously as you are able to help make life better for children in hospital.