A reading nation is a healthy nation

Reading for pleasure brings life-long benefits that change lives.

At all life stages, benefits include improved speech and language skills, family bonding, increased employability, empathy and social skills, stress reduction, and better mental health and wellbeing. 

Early years

The first five years of a child's life are crucial to their social, emotional and cognitive development. Their experiences during these years have a huge, lasting impact on the course their life will take.

Bookbug uses stories, songs and rhymes to:

• Nurture relationships and bonding
• Support speech and language development
• Lay the foundations of literacy
• Have fun!

Bookbug for the Home provides targeted support for families facing difficult and challenging situations and helps children with additional support needs. 

Through the Bookbug and Read Write Count programmes, we gift book bags to families from birth to P3. Universal gifting creates a shared culture of reading for pleasure in nurseries, schools and homes across Scotland.

Life learning

Reading Schools(this link will open in a new window) promotes a sustained culture of reading for pleasure. Inspiring children to love reading supports pupils’ health and wellbeing, increases positive destinations and outcomes for children and improves attainment.

Our mission is for every school in Scotland to build a reading culture and become a Reading School. View our map of accredited Reading Schools(this link will open in a new window) across Scotland.

We provide a range of opportunities to support all schools including Authors Live with BBC Scotland, Live Literature events and the Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour.

Reading nation

Reading, writing and storytelling are central to supporting wellbeing throughout adulthood.

Book Week Scotland is an annual celebration of the joy reading and books bring to daily lives. With libraries and other partners, it offers an array of events to engage existing and new audiences, and help people to find their reading community.

Storytelling is inherent to Scotland's national identity. Scotland’s Stories invites the people of Scotland to pick up a pen and share their true tales. A selection is published annually in a free book, with 70,000 copies distributed across the country.

Dementia affects 90,000 people in Scotland. Reading is Caring supports people living with dementia and those who care for them. It is proven to provide a uniquely beneficial activity for family, friends and professional carers to use at every stage of the dementia journey.

A day in the life of Scottish Book Trust

Scottish Book Trust provides support in every community across Scotland, and we aim to maximise accessibility and inclusivity in all we do. 

We work with schools, libraries, nurseries and other community groups as well as health visitors, hospitals, and other charities. We reach the home of every young family in Scotland through our universal gifting or targeted specialist support.