{"id":801,"date":"2019-04-18T10:40:32","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T09:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/?p=801"},"modified":"2019-04-05T17:27:27","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T16:27:27","slug":"from-childrens-books-to-childrens-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/from-childrens-books-to-childrens-health\/","title":{"rendered":"From children\u2019s books to children\u2019s health"},"content":{"rendered":"

How can children\u2019s literature collections contribute to supporting children\u2019s health? Is there a role that Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children\u2019s Books<\/a> can play in health settings? How can sharing stories enhance children and young people\u2019s mental wellbeing? In this blog post, find out about how Newcastle University and Seven Stories are starting to explore these questions through the Vital North Partnership\u2019s work\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happens in pregnancy and early childhood impacts on physical and emotional health all the way through to adulthood\u2026 the earliest experiences, starting in the womb, shape a baby\u2019s brain development.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Health matters: giving every child the best start in life, Public Health England 2016<\/a><\/p>\n

The first 1001 days<\/a> of a child\u2019s life are critical. A period of rapid growth, babies\u2019 brains are shaped by their early experiences and interactions they have with the grownups who care for them. Healthy development, including language development, from conception to age two \u201cis linked to improved mental and physical health, reductions in risk and antisocial behaviour and achievement at school and beyond.\u201d<\/em> (The 1001 Critical Days).<\/a><\/p>\n

Recent research led by Newcastle University\u2019s Professor James Law<\/a> from the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences,<\/a> which involved Seven Stories in an advisory capacity, concluded that reading with pre-school children boosts language by eight months.<\/a> Calling for additional support from public health authorities, Professor Law said, \u201cReading with small children has a powerful effect. For this reason, it should be promoted through people like public health visitors and other public health professionals as this simple act has the potential to make a real difference.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And beyond early childhood reading, museums are increasingly considering how their programmes can strategically contribute to public health and wellbeing across the life course.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"A
A parent reads with a young child at Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Books, photography by Richard Kenworthy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seven Stories deliver award-winning learning and family reading programmes,<\/a> which champion reading for pleasure and support literacy development. Seven Stories also have expertise working with children with additional learning and sensory needs, and delivering activities in hospice and other health settings. Newcastle University\u2019s internationally recognised Faculty of Medical Sciences<\/a> tackles challenges in health and healthcare, including ageing, cancer, cell biology, genetics, drug development, medicine in society and neuroscience. Through the Vital North Partnership,<\/a> we aim to realise a range of social, educational and cultural benefits \u2013 and exploring public health is becoming an increasing area of focus for our work together.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re starting to explore how we can collaborate with public health providers and enhance public understanding of health and wellbeing, and we\u2019re already planning some interesting activity. Here\u2019s what I can share so far about our 2019 plans\u2026<\/p>\n

What makes us, us?<\/h5>\n

On Saturday 2nd<\/sup> and Sunday 3rd<\/sup> March 2019, staff and students from Newcastle University\u2019s Institute of Neuroscience<\/a> and School of Psychology<\/a> delivered a weekend of activity, \u2018What Makes Us, Us?\u2019, at Seven Stories. Led by Dr Ann Fitchett<\/a> and Dr Billie Moffat-Knox<\/a>, children and families visiting Seven Stories engaged with Newcastle University students to explore what it means to be human \u2013 what we have in common, and what makes us unique. Through different activity stations, families learnt about brain science, why acts of kindness make us happy and how we see colours.<\/p>\n

\"Making
Making cardboard brains as part of the ‘What Makes Us, Us?’ weekend. Image: Newcastle University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Henry Marsh on \u2018brain surgery and other stories\u2019<\/h5>\n

Thinking about how children\u2019s books can engage with health narratives and medical research, we\u2019re looking forward to this year\u2019s Fickling Lecture on Developments in Children\u2019s Literature<\/a> with Henry Marsh,<\/a> neurosurgeon and author. Marsh pioneered techniques in operating on the brain under local anaesthetic and has written two books about his experience as a neurosurgeon.<\/p>\n

Henry Marsh will be discussing how doctors, witnesses and participants in the stories of their patients\u2019 lives, are beginning to tell children\u2019s stories about their practice. He will explain what he thinks makes a good medical story for younger readers.<\/p>\n

\"Henry
Henry Marsh, who will be this year’s Fickling Lecture speaker. Image: Paulo Castanheira Lua de Papel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is part of Newcastle University\u2019s free Insights public lecture series<\/a>, hosted by the Children\u2019s Literature Unit<\/a> and Seven Stories, and sponsored by David Fickling Books.<\/a> The lecture will take place on Tuesday 30th<\/sup> April 2019 and seats are allocated on a first-come, first served basis. I hope you can attend what I\u2019m sure will be a fascinating reflection on children\u2019s books and children\u2019s health. For more information, visit:\u00a0https:\/\/www.ncl.ac.uk\/events\/noticeboard\/item\/brainsurgeryandotherstories.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Enhancing young people\u2019s resilience with Readers in Residence<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m also very pleased to say that the Vital North Partnership has secured funding from Newcastle University\u2019s Humanities and Social Sciences<\/a> Faculty Impact Fund to support a new project. This will bring Seven Stories\u2019 Creative Learning and Engagement team and the Children\u2019s Literature Unit together to explore how children\u2019s literature can be used to support young people\u2019s wellbeing.<\/p>\n

As part of the project, led by Dr Hazel Sheeky-Bird<\/a> and Dr Lucy Pearson,<\/a> Seven Stories will be working with the research team to deliver a version of their Reader in Residence<\/a> programme in a secondary school setting for the first time, exploring Seven Stories\u2019 Aidan and Nancy Chambers collection<\/a> and thinking creatively about emotional resilience.<\/p>\n

I am excited about the potential impact of this new focus for our work together \u2013 and I believe that through the Vital North Partnership, Seven Stories and Newcastle University can enhance and promote public health, and particularly children\u2019s health, in the North East and beyond. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How can children\u2019s literature collections contribute to supporting children\u2019s health? Is there a role that Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children\u2019s Books can play in health settings? How can sharing stories enhance children and young people\u2019s mental wellbeing? In this blog post, find out about how Newcastle University and Seven Stories are starting to … Continue reading “From children\u2019s books to children\u2019s health”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6222,"featured_media":774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,20,39,18,27],"tags":[46,57,49,16,6,47,59,14,79,34,17,37,28],"class_list":["post-801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-research","category-schools","category-students","category-teaching","tag-arts","tag-children-and-young-people","tag-childrens-literature","tag-collections","tag-events","tag-inclusive","tag-newcastle-university","tag-public-engagement","tag-public-health","tag-schools","tag-seven-stories","tag-stem","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":805,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801\/revisions\/805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}