Woodham student Eva Efstathiou knows all about books: she should she wants to write and illustrate them when she leaves school. Should the ambitious Aycliffe girl achieve her dream, she could join the illustrious ranks of Pat Barker, Terry Deary, David Almond, Ann Fine and many others who live and work in the North East whilst exporting their titles around the world.
Like any budding author, Eva knows that a good writer has to be a good reader first, so it is not surprising that she and her friends Rebecca Donkin, Jessica McKenzie and Aaliyah Smallwood-Foster have been busy signing their schoolmates up to a marathon reading event that seeks to improve young lives through sponsored reading.
Readathon is an annual reading event which encourages youngsters to read for pleasure, while raising money for seriously ill children. Readathon supports three children’s charities: Readwell, which provides books and storytelling equipment for children in hospital; CLIC Sargent, which helsp youngsters with cancer; and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity, which supports seriously ill and disabled children and their families. All pupils have to do is read at home and get their family and friends to sponsor them. Eva, Rebecca, Jessica and Aaliyah have been doing exactly that, as have many more of their friends and colleagues – many of them signed up by the intrepid quartet.
When asked why reading is important the young fund-raisers were emphatic: “Reading, is not only fun (providing you look for the ‘right books’) it is also good for learning grammar and punctuation and other literary skills” said Jessica. It also help with socialisation too – as readers learn to understand people through reading about their lives and experiences.
Another of the group, Rebecca Donkin (who wants to be a fashion designer),
points out that many young people aren’t as fortunate as she and her friends are, and clearly sees it as their job to help them out.
In an era when many young people are negatively portrayed it is refreshing to see young people putting themselves at the service of their community. It also shows that being ‘bookish’ isn’t, perhaps, as bad as it might sound.
