A Look Inside the Literacy Library

Insights from Phoebe, CLPE in celebration of Primary Arts Masterclasses and the National Year of Reading

23 March 2026

A Librarian’s View

From my desk at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) where I write this, I can see: proof copies from publishers to get us excited about the year’s big releases; brand-new books waiting to be added to the library catalogue; a stack of books that will be given away to attendees of our next training course; and a glimpse of the shelves of the Literacy Library itself through the door of my office. With so many books around me, it’s a wonder I can see my laptop at all.

As the CLPE’s Librarian, it is one of my responsibilities, and my great joy, to manage the centre’s 25,000-strong children’s book collection. Through our evidence-based training programme and robust research projects, CLPE’s work raises the achievement of children's reading and writing by supporting schools to teach literacy creatively and effectively, with quality children’s books at the heart of all learning. For this reason, the library is likewise at the heart of everything we do.

Anyone with an interest in children’s literature is free to visit the CLPE library, which comprises an in-print reference collection of books for Early Years up to early KS3, and three archive collections of poetry, traditional tales, and academic texts. It showcases the incredible breadth of contemporary children’s publishing, taking as broad a view as possible while making space for the exceptional, and empowering library users with the agency to browse, try things out, make discoveries, and be led by their own choices.

Because new children’s books are being published all the time – around 10,000 per year – there is only ever physical shelf space for a limited amount, therefore I aim to be clear and intentional about our stock selection policy and keep up a routine of ‘weeding’ the collection. As a natural book-hoarder this certainly has its challenges, nevertheless I always come back to the idea of a library as a living organism, an ecosystem to be tended, that must best reflect the needs of its users at any given time. Some of our library’s collections, including our Corebooks list and our Power of Reading collection, place particular emphasis on spotlighting high-quality texts, by which we’re referring to texts by skilful creators with depth and interest in story, character, illustration, vocabulary, structure and subject matter. They are multi-layered, relatable and imaginative books which allow for creative exploration of themes, dilemmas and challenges, and lend themselves to being talked about, thought through, returned to, and engaged with from multiple angles.

Ensuring Every Child Sees Themselves in Books

Across our training programme and our library collection, we also affirm the right of every child to encounter and make connections with quality texts that build their identity as readers and scaffold their sense of self. The value of children seeing themselves reflected in books cannot be underestimated: a quality classroom or library book collection should reflect and celebrate their identities, their heritage, their experiences, their lives, as well as their understanding of others and the world around them.

Another important function of any collection is to provide access to a wider range of titles, authors, genres and publishers than children might otherwise meet. A rich reading diet will include a broad range of text types to inspire children to read for purpose and for pleasure, including: picturebooks for all ages (including older readers), poetry, newspapers and magazines, pop-up books, illustrated fiction, alphabet and counting books, books in languages other than English, humorous texts, wordless books, short stories, comics and graphic novels, information books, novels, board books, audiobooks, verse novels... the list goes on!

Some of these texts will fulfil the hallmarks of high-quality I’ve alluded to – those multi-layered books to spend time with, linger over and return to – while others may be more fleetingly enjoyed, and it’s important to listen to and respect children’s choices while broadening their reading range. CLPE has found through our collaboration with classroom teachers that children can be put off when they feel adults making judgements about their reading choices, therefore some have found it fruitful to allow children a say in the selection of books for the book corner and library. That ‘forgettable’ title might be just what that child needs to get into reading, spark an idea, or provide a moment of entertainment. It’s also key that this broad reading diet encompasses books both connected to and fully outside of the school curriculum, in order to validate children’s choices, interests, preferences and agency, and emphasise reading for pleasure.

Building a Balanced, Inspiring Classroom Library

Our recommended approach for stocking a classroom library or book corner, and what we therefore model in the CLPE library, is a core collection of well-known, well-loved texts for children to return to, a wide range of books to support the curriculum, plus texts to scaffold children’s reading development and support them to read widely across a growing range of literature. I’m excited to find out which of the (many!) books assembled on my desk and waiting to be read will go on to be beloved by children, teachers, schools and settings across the country, and beyond.

Remaining sessions for Primary Arts 2025/26 include:

There are a few spaces available for the above session, but they are very popular and with such an exciting year for reading ahead, we do expect them to book up quickly.

You can register for a free place on up to three Masterclasses!

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