Coram Beanstalk

05/10/2026

📖🔟Have you signed up to set a new Guinness World Records title on Thursday 8th October for the most people reading online in 12 hours yet? We have! 📖🔟

On Thursday as part of the the National Literacy Trust and British Council are attempting to set the new record by encouraging everyone to sign up to one of 12 online author events at different times of the day, with authors and influencers for all ages, and take 10 to read together.

The full schedule and registration form can be found via the link below.

All of our Coram Beanstalk staff will be joining our author ambassador Rashmi Sirdeshpande, or Frank Cottrell Boyce or Nathanael Lessore or Coco Omer and Zubs for one of their pre-recorded sessions that includes 10 minutes reading time!

Do you want to be a part of the record attempt? Sign up today and join us!

https://literacytrust.org.uk/events/take-10-record-attempt/

02/10/2026

🍂🍁How can it be October already?🍁🍂

But it's not a bad thing because a new month means it's time for our latest of the month and we've chosen the beautiful 'Wild Journey' by A M Dassu illustrated by Joe Lillington.

Our Coram Beanstalk schools in London have the opportunity later this month, to hear A.M. Dassu talk about this collection of stories focusing on five children's differing journeys as part of our special Beanstalk BookFest events for schools.

We've also chosen a selection of other Beanstalk Brilliant Books exploring migration and the many journeys people and animals make in search of safety, a home and a better future.

Take a look at our website here to find out more: www.corambeanstalk.org.uk/october-2026

01/10/2026

🎉We’re celebrating with this wonderful poem written especially for us by our author ambassador Rashmi Sirdeshpande ♥️📚

It gives us goosebumps every time we read it - and we’re here for the reading revolution! 👊🏼📚💥

Do you have a favourite poem you like to share with the children you read with? Or what’s their favourite?

28/09/2026

💥Join us today to create readers - one page at a time! 📖✨

We’ll do our utmost to help you become the best reading helper you can be, with all the resources, training and support you need to set children off on a path to reading for the rest of their lives.

✨Every child needs someone to make reading feel like magic so let’s create magic together. 👊🏼

21/09/2026

📚 And we’re back! 👌🏼

As everyone starts getting back into the September school routine, our reading helpers are gradually going back to, or starting in, their schools.

We’d like to welcome back all our existing volunteers and schools and extend a big welcome to all our new partner schools and trainee reading helpers. 👋🏼

We’re very much looking forward to the new school year, having kicked off September with our annual hybrid reading helper conference: A chance to gather together, learn from, enthuse and inspire each other before the real work starts. Huge thanks to our author-ambassador Rashmi Sirdeshpande and comic-expert Karrie Fransman for the buzz and excitement they created at that conference.

💥We’re ready to create readers, one page at a time, through the magic of one-to-one book-focused relationships. 📖

✨ Every child deserves someone who makes reading magic - so if you can spare an afternoon a week or you’d like to find out how Coram Beanstalk can support children in your school, please get in touch today!

07/09/2026

So looking forward to this with lots of our Coram Beanstalk schools taking part!

01/09/2026

🤔Is it September already??🤔

Well that came around fast! But before you start worrying about the end of the summer, it's time for our Book of the Month to ease the back to school blues.

And what a perfect book we've chosen - especially for any little ones starting a new school or nursery, whether that's for the first time or just a change of school.

The Tour at School is a gorgeous book by Katie Clapham, illustrated by Nadia Shireen - a reassuring and funny book that's sure to help ease those new school nerves.

Check out this, and the other Beanstalk Brilliant Books we've chosen about being the new kid at school, for all ages on our website. Link in the comments below.

30/08/2026

Discover the joy of reading with your child through the Books Together programme – a series of fun, interactive sessions offering tips, resources, and ideas to help families read together regularly.

28/08/2026

Like many of you, this week we've been reflecting on the sad loss of Dolly Parton - a successful, determined woman with improving children's literacy firmly in her sights.
A woman whose Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has done more to help young children discover how much fun books and reading can be with through regular book gifting, on a huge scale, than any other initiative we know.

And we have looked back to the Story Starters programme we developed in 2017 with Postcode Lottery UK funding in association with the Dollywood Foundation UK and LuCiD to help nursery-aged children fall in love with reading. Alongside a trained Beanstalk reading helper, the children we supported all received monthly book gifts from the Imagination Library. It was a wonderful programme that helped us shape our Early Years offering and some of our current reading helpers, do still read with early years children in schools around the country.

Book-ownership, for children who have very limited access to books of their own, is one of the most important aspects of helping children discover that reading is something they can choose to do - and we applaud all those literacy charities who are carrying out this work every day.

Whilst we mourn the loss of an iconic woman, we cherish the legacy she leaves and we are hugely grateful to the Dollywood Foundation and the Imagination Library for their support of our work. 💛📖

* NOTE: This is the archive news story from October 2017 when we first launched the programme.
Our StoryStarters website is no longer active but we are always looking for volunteers to become reading helpers for children of all ages. Details of our current Early Years training for schools and nurseries can be found on our website.

On Friday 6th October international superstar and philanthropist Dolly Parton released a new film to launch Story Starters, a new programme that provides one-to-one language and communication suppo...