Reading hack

This was another idea to emerge from our Design Team – a stand-alone project for which we applied for and received additional funding. This funding bid was drafted by the girls themselves, and I attach it here, should you wish to draft your own bid!

The Design Team were concerned that fewer girls their age were reading these days, and that it was difficult to get people into books if they weren’t already a “reader”. They decided to organise a campaign to address this issue.

The idea was simple:

• show films adapted from novels at our women’s centre
• make entry free, and encourage everyone to “bring a non-reader”
• choose stories across diverse genres to maximise appeal
• have a young woman advocate passionately for each book in a short speech after the film-showing
• give away a free paperback to each attendee, with others from the genre available as well as the adaptation
• theme the film-night – food, decorations – to create a more immersive experience

These are the 6 genres chosen, and novels bought for each.

Drama: The Fault in our Stars, Holding Up The Universe, An Abundance of Katherines, Fangirl, Thirteen Reasons Why, The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Room, Gone Girl.

Comedy: The IT Girl, The Taming of the Tights, Withering Tights, Georgia Nicholson Collection, Holes.

Fantasy: First 3 Harry Potter books, Alice in Wonderland, A Girl Called Owl, Chronicles of Narnia.

Manga: Raven, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Girl Got Game, Username: Evie, Nimona, My Neighbour Totoro, Username: Regenerated.

Romance: Me Before You, After You, The Girl You Left Behind, Everything Everything, Girl Online, The Notebook, Dear John.

Sci-Fi / Thriller: Divergent, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Percy Jackson and the Light, Noughts & Crosses