‘I spy with my London Eye’

Booktrust announces the launch of Children’s Book Week, to take place at the London Eye and to be hosted by Michael Rosen, Children’s Laureate.

Children’s Book Week is taking place from 6-10th October with events across the country. This year’s theme is Rhythm and Rhyme. On Monday 6th October a launch event will take place at the London Eye and the Southbank Centre.

250 local children have been invited to take a flight on the London Eye with Michael Rosen. They will be provided with writing materials when boarding the capsules. Michael will join the children for a flight in the London Eye and then to the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre where he will lead the children in writing a group poem about the London Eye.

Children’s Book Week is a celebration of reading for pleasure for children of primary school age. Children’s Book Week is in its 77th year and is always held in the first full week of October. Free teachers’ packs, including Booktrust’s Best Books guides, arrived in all state primary schools, public libraries, special schools and initial teacher training institutions in England on the 16th June 2008.

National Bookstart Day takes place on the last day of Children’s Book Week, which is Friday 10th October this year. It is a celebration of the Bookstart programme which gives three packs of free books to every child in the UK, to encourage parents and carers to share books with their children from a very young age.

Michael Rosen, Children’s Laureate:

“Children's Book Week is a great opportunity for everyone who cares about children’s books to fire up children to read and talk about books. Schools can make a special place in the curriculum to discover how books can give pleasure, enlightenment and pause for thought. Libraries can focus on how best to get children through their doors to enjoy the treasure houses nearby.

This year’s launch will see us sailing up in the air on the London Eye to be inspired by the magnificent sight of our great city and to write a special Children’s Book Week poem for London. I know that seeing London laid out in front of us will spark off thoughts and memories for a poem that can be sent back into the air over the city.”