
Read North East

Read North East focuses on encouraging parents to chat, play and read to their babies and young children – whenever and wherever they are.
We work with organisations and businesses across the North East, joining forces to strengthen the culture of reading across the region.
Since 2017 when we launched Read North East, we have given away more than 8,700 books to children who, according to our research, may not have any books of their own at home.
As part of our work in the North East, we also run the Redcar Early Years Partnership, which combines Read North East activity with our flagship early years programme, Early Words Together.

A summer of chat, play, read
Your child's brain grows fastest in their first five years of life. Spending just 10 minutes a day chatting, playing, and reading with your little one helps to give them the best start in life.

Connecting Stories
Our new initiative with an exciting calendar of events, funded by Arts Council England to inspire children to tell their stories.
-
For families
We have lots of useful tips, guidance and free activities for parents, to help you support your child's literacy development as they grow.Learn more -
For schools
Read North East supports schools to make literacy improvement a priority and encourage pupils to read for pleasure.Learn more -
For supporters
We rely on the generous support of individuals, schools, communities and businesses to help us continue our vital work in the North East.Learn more
Success stories
News
Our Read North East campaign launched its new Redcar Early Years Partnership today with a storytelling event for children.News
Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney visits Newcastle for an exclusive Read North East event
We teamed up with Penguin Random House to host an exclusive schools event with the world-famous Diary of Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney, as part of our Read North East campaign.Success story
Southwick Primary School’s grand day out with Spot
Children from Southwick Primary School in Sunderland enjoyed a day of ‘chat, play, read’ activities themed around Eric Hill’s Spot.