Reading Support

 We offer a wide range of bookstock and online resources designed to help students of all ages.

Each branch has a dedicated children’s library to support a child’s reading journey from birth to adulthood.  Library staff will be happy to guide you to the right section and make suggestions based on a child’s particular needs and interests.

 

Board Books - Child-sized hardbacks designed for babies to hold and look at with simple images and a few key words.

 

Picture Books - Large format, highly illustrated stories designed for adults to read to children, or for older children to read themselves.

 

First Fiction - Slim titles with yellow spine labels, offering simple sentences (one stripe) or short chapters (two stripes), designed to support children who are learning to read through a reading scheme approach.  

 

Junior Fiction - A wide range of fiction for children who are ready for chapter books with more than 100 pages.  Covering the age range 7 - 11 they offer something for everyone, but without any mature content.

 

Illustrated Fiction - This collection includes junior graphic novels and illustrated fiction which often appeals to less confident readers or children who enjoy books with more visual references.

 

Teen Fiction - This collection is usually sited just outside the children’s section and is made up of fiction aimed at ages 11 - 13 (yellow spine label) and fiction aimed at 14 - 18’s (black spine label). These stories often have deeper and more thought provoking themes and may contain some mature content appropriate to the age group. Readers are free to make their own judgements about which ones to borrow.

 

Ebooks and Audio Books - Most of our children’s audio books and ebooks are now available through our online platform and can be downloaded free of charge onto a computer, tablet or phone. Library users can access this service using their library card and PIN.  Some branches still hold small collections of fiction on CD.

 

Reading Recommendations -  Library staff will be happy to offer reading recommendations based on a child’s reading age and interests as well as mounting regular displays of new fiction and topical themed collections. 

 

We run monthly reading clubs for children and young people who are interested in books and like to talk about what they’ve read. Details are on our Children’s Activities page.