Latest News & Blogs

Alison founded the Reading Force initiative in 2010 on a shoestring budget. What started as a pilot has gone from strength to strength and today Reading Force is a tri-service charity with [...]

Fiona Maxwell has been Reading Force Ambassador in Scotland since July 2017. Her role has since expanded to include the North of England. In Scotland she has become known as the Book [...]

In this blog publisher, author and Reading Force founder Alison Baverstock gives the lowdown on the sustainability of books. A criticism often faced by publishers is [...]

Newly posted to Brunei, and with the unfamiliar novelty of having time on her hands, Kim decided to start a book club. In this blog she shares her experience of getting the [...]

In this blog Lorraine, one half of the dynamic duo We Are Bert, shares the story of how the wonderful Berts came about… As Andy and I celebrated our 60th birthdays recently, we [...]

In this blog Royal Marine & Children’s author Tom Cornner shares the inspiration behind his children’s book Arco the Bossy… My journey as a children's author wasn't planned, it was whispered [...]

Exploring emotional literacy within settings Starcatcher’s is Scotland’s arts and early years organisation and run inspiring creative projects across Scotland for babies, toddlers, and young children. We’re thrilled to welcome Amy Hall Gibson, [...]

We are pleased to offer a very special afternoon for children from military families. This event is for children who have, or have had,  a mum, dad, carer, or grandparent, in the Army, Navy/Marines [...]

Claire Dunbar is a mother of two, a primary school teacher, and now, an author. Her husband serves in the Royal Air Force and she has written two books for children who have a [...]

In this blog English Leader at Carnagill Community Primary School, Sarah Bradshaw, writes about the transformative power of teachers reading aloud every day and how this has grown pupils’ love of reading and stories… [...]

Author Charlotte Goodwin joined the Reserves aged 18 and in this blog she explains how Army life runs through her fantasy books for adults.This month marks my twentieth year in the Army Reserves.  I joined [...]

Read this blog to discover veteran Tony Brown’s life journey and his incredible creation of Forces Manor… Situated in the village of Kincraig, on the banks of the River Spey, five miles south of [...]

In this blog our fabulous Book Club Ambassador, Nicola, gives the lowdown on her role supporting book clubs to get up and running… Thanks to a grant from the Veterans’ Foundation, we are continuing [...]

‘My Forces Life’ Art Competition Winners! From the Under 4s to Adults’ entries, once again the Forces community have amazed us with their immense creativity and power of expression. We would like [...]

We’re thrilled to welcome Andrew Terry as our guest blogger. Andrew left the Navy in 2022 and set about writing and illustrating a children’s book about deployment and how as a deployed parent you’re [...]

We are thrilled Rhian Tracey’s mystery adventure set in Bletchley Park at the start of World War II, has just come out! In this very special guest blog, Rhian reveals her inspiration [...]

Our junior book clubs are perfect for children aged 8 -11 years old and our senior clubs are suited to those aged 12-16/18yrs with a military connection including children of veterans and reservists. [...]

The Rock Retreat and Accord Literary are hosting workshops and running a young writers and illustrators competition and inviting Reading Force children and young people to take part! Accra in Ghana is UNESCO World [...]

In this blog our Ambassador in Scotland, Fiona Maxwell, highlights the fantastic work of the charity Fighting With Pride… Fighting With Pride Prior to January 2000, there was a ban on LGBT+ personnel serving [...]

Join a Reading Force book club and read more amazing books, for free! Check out our THREE AMAZING new titles for our adult book clubs!  New volunteer coordinators can choose from: Capital by John Lanchester, [...]

We’re thrilled to welcome Mairi Holden as our guest blogger. Mairi is Oscar Holden’s mum - you’ll remember that 11-year-old Oscar recently published his first fantastic book about his character Fazoom. Here, Mairi recalls [...]

In this blog Reading force founder Alison Baverstock reflects on Christmas in the military and eclectic Christmas tree decorations! I don’t come from a military family. As a child, listening to ‘Two-way family [...]

Hi everyone, What a fantastic summer! We teamed up with Connected Forces to create an online book club for 16–19-year-old UK Armed Forces students across the UK and provided three free books to each [...]

We’re thrilled to welcome K.N. Chimbiri as our guest blogger for Black History Month. In this blog Kandace talks about her writing life and where the idea came from for her newly released book, [...]