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Skip navigation to main content Home › Something More › The Reader reveals magical Christmas 2026 season at Calderstones Park Written by Shauna Lacy, 21st September 2026 New Christmas concerts, festive cinema and family theatre join the seasonal celebrations, offering ways to get together at Liverpool’s Calderstones Park this winter.

Home › Something More › September’s Title Pick for Adults: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi Written by Rebecca Hodge, 11th September 2026 Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi was suggested by several Reader Leaders for our Reader Bookshelf on the theme of ‘The Home We Carry’.

Home › Something More › September’s Title Pick for Children: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery Written by Rebecca Hodge, 11th September 2026 Revisiting Anne of Green Gables feels like opening a time capsule. This was a childhood favourite of mine and rereading it confirmed that it is still just as enjoyable. What I did find interesting though is how we can enjoy stories as a child and how differently we absorb stories as adults.

Written by Rebecca Hodge, 2nd September 2026 September Monthly Poems & Stories We're continuing our year-long exploration of the theme of 'home', bringing together another selection of prose and poetry to help us think, particularly, of how 'home' connects to ideas of roots and ancestry. What happens when strangeness - a new person, a new language (or even a new planet, in the sci-fi story 'Desertion') - disrupts to our connection to our past life or our forebears?

Home › Something More › August’s Monthly Stories and Poems Written by Rebecca Hodge, 2nd September 2026 ‘Sometimes we can return home and find that it no longer holds the familiarity or reassurance that might once have been there. It can feel uncomfortable to notice that change.

Home › Something More › August’s Title Pick for Adults: The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan Written by Rebecca Hodge, 5th August 2026 ‘As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a Den: and I laid me down in that place to sleep: and, as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back.

As the UK’s biggest Shared Reading charity, we are absolutely delighted to see the Education Committee highlight Shared Reading as a key recommendation in its new Reading for Pleasure report. We were particularly pleased to see: A recognition that what is read in Shared Reading matters. Our work with care experienced children relies on literature choice being personalised and child-led.

Home › Something More › July’s Title Pick for Children: The Blue Umbrella by Emily Ann Davison Written by Rebecca Hodge, 22nd July 2026 My favourite bit in The Blue Umbrella is when it first starts to rain – suddenly, out of a clear blue sky, little drips at first but soon a downpour – and the little girl (who is telling the story) is sheltering under her sweet blue umbrella, which only just covers her.

Home › Something More › Julys Title Pick for Adults: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Written by Rebecca Hodge, 22nd July 2026 Robin Wall Kimmerer is a scientist – a professor of environmental biology – and she is also a member of the Potawatomi nation, of the Indigenous people of North America.

Home › Something More › July’s Monthly Stories and Poems Written by Rebecca Hodge, 15th July 2026 Through pieces in this month’s stories and poems pack we’re dipping into the huge subject of family and drawing out particular strands to think about, such as ancestry and memory, loneliness and difference, and how much distance can exist between people even within family units.