In the space between reader and child, a future starts to take shape…
In a city that knows the power of voices being passed down, shared and amplified, it feels only right that one of the UK’s most quietly radical literacy projects is rooted in Liverpool.
The Reader’s Reading Heroes project – launched in 2016 – doesn’t shout. It doesn’t dazzle with tech or gamification. Instead, it does something far more subversive in 2025: it asks an adult to sit down with a child and read out loud, once a week, for an hour. That’s it. And for care-experienced children, that simple act can be transformational.
As Stephen Fry – actor, writer, broadcaster and long-time supporter of the project – puts it:
“You can fob a youngster off with devices, games and even with books, but nothing comes close to the sharing out loud of a story… Care-experienced children especially need to feel the warmth, delight and affection that this simple act can offer.”
Reading Heroes pairs trained volunteers with children aged two to 15 who live – or have lived – in kinship, foster or residential care. Over 26 weeks, they read together one-to-one, online. When the sessions end, the story doesn’t stop: books continue arriving through the post, and children are invited to Meet the Author events, keeping the connection to reading alive.
Right now, demand is outstripping supply. Across Liverpool, Sefton, Halton, and wider afield Greater Manchester and Tower Hamlets, 248 children are currently taking part or referred onto the programme – with a further 152 children waiting for a volunteer to be matched with them.
That’s why The Reader’s Reading Heroes Christmas Appeal 2025 matters. The Liverpool-based charity is aiming to raise £10,000 to recruit, train and support up to 250 volunteers. At the time of writing, just over £8,600 has been raised – close, but not quite there yet.
For Debbie, a Liverpool kinship carer looking after two girls, the impact has been profound.
“Kinship kids have been through a lot,” she says. “One of the girls didn’t speak to anybody – but she spoke to our volunteer.”
Books became the bridge. Confidence grew. Mealtimes changed. “We sit and talk now – ‘how was your day, what books are you reading?’ The girls put voices on, do plays in the garden. They still talk about their Reading Heroes volunteer.”
Volunteer Matt Webb, who has been reading with care-experienced children for nine years, calls the experience “phenomenal”.
“I’ve read the same book with five or six different children, and it’s been entirely different every time,” he says. “Finding what makes that child engage – when you get it, it’s incredibly rewarding.”
And the data backs up these stories. Recent figures show:
• 82% of carers say Reading Heroes improves confidence
• 79% report higher self-esteem
• 74% see improved wellbeing
• 84% say it gives children something to look forward to
Perhaps most tellingly, 81% of children say they find it relaxing, and nearly 80% say they enjoy reading more now.
For Fiona Hall, a Liverpool-based volunteer who works at Shakespeare North Playhouse, the experience has been deeply personal. Reading weekly with a six-year old boy in kinship care, she describes the sessions as “an absolute joy”.
“It’s an important commitment,” she says. “A child relies on you – you can’t let them down.”
She pauses, then adds: “Maybe in ten years’ time, he’ll spot me in the supermarket and say, ‘You’re the person who used to read with me.’ I’d tell him what a pleasure it was.”
In a world obsessed with quick fixes, Reading Heroes reminds us that attention, consistency and kindness still matter. That stories, shared aloud, can steady a life. And sometimes, the most radical thing you can give a child, is your voice…
For further information about how to become a Reading Heroes volunteer visit here and to find out about how you can make a difference to the life of a care-experienced through the charity’s Christmas Appeal 2025 go to: thereader.org.uk/christmasappeal2025
