Press Release
Parents at a Home-Start family support group in Scotland are to have their book published by Orchard Books after working with children's author Alison Murray.
Issued: 10th May 2011
Parents at a Home-Start family support group in Scotland are to have their book published after working with children's author Alison Murray.
Over the past nine months, picture book writer and illustrator Alison Murray has worked intensively with a group of Home-Start parents in Paisley, to inspire them to read to their children and to write a book with them.
Parents and children at Home-Start Renfrewshire’s family group come from around Paisley, Scotland’s largest town. The area has suffered from high levels of unemployment and social deprivation since the demise of its textile industry.
The aim of this project was to create better life chances for all the families involved: by empowering parents with reading and writing skills- which can be passed down to their own children and grandchildren. One Home-Start parent involved in the project said: “I was a rubbish speller at school so doing stuff like this is a great help to me and my kids.”
Now, their hard work has paid off, as Orchard Books have agreed to publish the book. Called ‘Little Mouse’, it tells the story of a little girl who loves sharing books with her mum.
Emma Richardson, family group coordinator at Home-Start Renfrewshire said: “I have seen an improved confidence in all the parents who took part in the project. They have a growing interest in words and stories which can only have a positive effect on their children. This project has been fabulous. By working with families we hope that we have created a book that all families will enjoy sharing.”
60,000 copies of Little Mouse will be distributed, free, to every toddler in Scotland in 2012 through the Scottish Book Trust’s unique book gifting programme, Bookbug.
After then the book will be on sale throughout the UK and abroad. It’s a perfect way of putting a beautiful storybook created by parents of young children into the hands of every parent of young children in Scotland.
A showcase event for this project will take place on the afternoon of Wednesday 18th May 2011 at Paisley Town Hall. This is an opportunity for the parents and the author to share their experiences with a wider audience.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editor
Home-Start
Home-Start is the UK’s leading family support charity. We recruit and train volunteers to support parents, in their own homes, with at least one child under the age of five. Our home visiting work is unique in the UK. The charity was set up in 1973 and now has 334 Home-Starts supporting nearly 35,000 families and almost 73,000 children each year. Almost 16,500 volunteers visit families in their own homes – parents supporting other parents in a variety of situations including isolation, bereavement, multiple births, illness or disability.
In Scotland there are 32 local Home-Starts, stretching from Orkney to Stranraer. Last year over 1,500 Home-Start volunteers supported 2160 families and 4707 children, across Scotland.
Scottish Book Trust
Scottish Book Trust’s early years programme delivers Bookbug, Scotland’s only book gifting programme in which free picture books are distributed annually to every baby, toddler, 3 year old and Primary One child in Scotland, accompanied by outreach activities delivered locally across Scotland to support early booksharing. 420,000 books are distributed free every year, and over 250,000 parents and children attend Bookbug Sessions in local libraries.
Contact details:
Jo McLeish, Press and Pr Officer, Home-Start UK
Tel: 0116 2587933
Email: jmcleish@home-start.org.uk
Website: www.home-start.org.uk
