Will Young and Sophie Dahl paid a visit to Crawley Library in West Sussex last Friday to spend time with a group of local young people. Will Young shared extracts from Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories, which his father read to him as a child.  The group had brought in some of their own childhood favourite books which stimulated lively discussions with Will about old favourites and hot new reads.

The visit came about via Sophie Dahl’s involvement as a patron of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre; as a passionate reader herself and very much in the spirit of her grandfather*, Sophie was keen to get involved with projects which help to nurture the love of reading.  The Museum approached The Reading Agency whose ground-breaking HeadSpace project offers teenagers opportunities to get involved in the design, planning and running of their own library spaces.

Will Young and Leader of West Sussex County Council Henry Smith

Sophie’s project, funded by the Museum, supports HeadSpace groups by offering them real reading role-models from the worlds of music, TV and sport – celebrities whom the teenagers aspire to be like. In a series of closed events in HeadSpace libraries, a reading role-model will have an hour’s discussion with the HeadSpace group about their favourite books. In November, Sophie Dahl herself will be meeting teenagers at High Wycombe Library.

Sophie Dahl said: “Friday was a truly wonderful start to what I hope will be regular library events. Will was funny, generous, and spoke with passion about the role reading has played in his life. Teenage life is not easy. Sometimes in the wake of it reading can be knocked off the agenda. The HeadSpace project addresses this issue brilliantly and provides a perfect accessible setting for our reading role-model events.”

Will Young said:  “I found it extremely inspiring to be around teenagers who were engaging, challenging, interested and with wonderful sense of humours. It reminded me why reading is so important. Books allow people to formulate their own opinions and identities. The HeadSpace project in my view provides an invaluable service to young people giving them the freedom to explore their imaginations.”

* “If, when you are young, you read just one book that is so funny and exciting that you fall in love with it, then…this … is almost sure to lead you on to become a reader of books for the rest of your life.” Roald Dahl

Crawley Happy Times would like to thank Amy MacLaren  of The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre for this press release