Clutching the book tightly to his chest, the boy asked, “Can I keep this?” the librarian on the stand replied with a resounding “Absolutely!”. He and his siblings had selected books from a display of Pūtoi Rito Communities of Readers books at Kaipara Libraries stand at the Northland Field Days in Dargaville. The Pūtoi Rito project in Dargaville, a National Library-led partnership project with Kaipara libraries and schools, was one of six partnership projects that aimed to provide children and young people in communities across Aotearoa New Zealand with opportunities and support to develop a love of reading.
National Library launched the Pūtoi Rito Communities of Readers initiative in 2019 with funding from Te Puna Foundation in response to a decline in the number of children and young people reading for pleasure, disparity of access to support for reading for pleasure, and declining literacy. There were also gaps in research on reading for pleasure in the Aotearoa New Zealand context, so the National Library commissioned AUT, Point Research, and the New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER) to research the projects.
Research[1] shows that reading for pleasure plays a significant role in young people’s literacy development, knowledge, sense of belonging, connection with whānau, empathy and imagination. It also shows that reading to children is a ‘protective factor’, counteracting the negative effects of cumulative stress in the first years of a child’s life.
“…even if the conditions that keep children in socioeconomic disadvantage are difficult and slow to change, if parents and caregivers read to their children, a multitude of their developmental outcomes can be improved.” Alex Woodley
The first co-designed project initiated in 2019 was in South Dunedin. Over the next five years, other projects followed in Huntly, West Auckland, Canterbury, Tauwhare (in the Waikato), and Dargaville with partners including schools, Kāhui Ako, libraries, iwi, social services and government agencies.
Each project varied in size, context, age group and location, but all wove together community support to raise awareness of the importance of reading for pleasure at home and school. The projects provided opportunities for teachers and families to learn about their influence as role models and strategies to support and engage young people with reading, including developing their reading choices and identity. The projects were strengths-based to build positive associations with reading.
Providing access to diverse and appealing books, including in te reo Māori and other languages reflecting communities’ home languages and cultures, is fundamental to engaging young readers and was at the heart of all projects. The South Dunedin and Dargaville projects involved library, school and community partners. In these projects, high-quality books that reflected the ages and home languages of the project’s community were distributed via events, little libraries, programme partners, schools, ECEs, kura, marae, local businesses and agencies. When the South Dunedin project ended late in 2024, around 150 local organisations, businesses, libraries, schools and ECE centres had become involved in championing reading for pleasure.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE DECEMBER 2024 ISSUE OF TE RAU ORA LIBRARY LIFE HERE.
The Pūtoi Rito Impact Summary Report presents the research findings and demonstrates the impact of the Pūtoi Rito programme across all the projects.
[1] Reading for pleasure — a door to success | Services to Schools (natlib.govt.nz)
[2] South Dunedin Communities of Readers Project report (natlib.govt.nz) (Alex Woodley, 2024)
