Hackney residents, author Romeo and publisher Juliet Bremmer want to get everyone reading this Summer and if the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, the mother and son are going to make sure Muhammad comes to the mountain by getting their books out into the local community.
16 year old Romeo who has just finished his GCSE exams is an award-winning published author of 9 books and has been writing since he was 7 Years old.
“I’ve just finished my GCSEs last week. The average reading age needed to fully access a GCSE exam paper is 15 years and 7 months. If a child’s reading age is below this then they will struggle with answering the questions. Every child should be a confident, proficient and happy reader.” said Romeo.
Juliet is a former Senior Deputy Headteacher and has been working in schools for over 20 years. It was visiting her local Hackney library as a child that changed her life. She grew up on the Pembury Estate in Hackney and was awarded in the House of Lords a British Citizen Award for her work in Education. Something she credits to reading.
“I came from a single parent family and was on free school meals and never got on a plane until I was 23 years old because my mum couldn’t afford it. But because I was an avid reader, I had been all over the world by the time I was 13: Bethlehem, Narnia, Wonderland. That’s the power of reading.”
Juliet became an English teacher and a senior leader in a secondary school before retiring in 2019. Her time has since been spent developing Publishing House: Young LIT Stars (YLS), that creates Beautiful Black Books written by Beautiful Black Children aged 6 to 15 years.
“YLS have hidden over 100 books in Hackney Parks and Green Spaces and want the community young and old to find and read one of our books and then re-hide it for someone else to read and enjoy.”
Inspired by the ‘Leek Look for a Book’ project, Romeo and Juliet want to encourage children to spend less on screen time this summer, and more time reading.
“Reading is essential to just about everything in life and just 20 minutes a day helps vocabulary, communication, grammar skills, and ultimately, it improves writing skills,” says the former teacher.
“Children experience ‘summer learning loss’ and it is not unusual to find there is a dip in children’s academic attainment between the Summer and Autumn term so it is so important that they continue to read daily.” she added.
Young LIT Stars are trialling hiding their books in parks and green spaces in Hackney and hope to cover more boroughs over time.
Romeo Bremmer was Deputy Head Boy at his Hackney school, is a Deputy Leader in Hackney Youth Parliament and a National Young Market Trader finalist. He was awarded the Violent Crime Reduction Board’s Most Inspirational Under 18 and nominated by the London Chamber of Commerce for his Outstanding Contribution to Literature alongside Professor David Olusoga OBE and rapper and journalist, Akala.
“I love writing and have been doing this since I was 7. I’m looking forward to strolling through my local park looking for someone who’s reading one of my books. It’s gonna be fun!” said Romeo.
Young LIT Stars was established in 2015 and work with young Black
children in free workshops and publish their writing. They were keen to address the lack of representation of Black characters in children’s books and also boost the self esteem and confidence of young Black children by publishing their work.
In 2017, The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) conducted research, Reflecting Realities, which showed that children’s books published in 2016 that featuring a main character from a racially minoritised background was 1%. This has improved, but is still not reflective of multi-cultural Britian, with the Reflecting Realities report published in 2023 showing the figure now 14%.
To date Young LIT Stars have published 60 children locally, nationally and internationally in 23 books. So why not pop into a Hackney Park and look out for a YLS book?
Readers are encouraged to post a review on X: @Juliet Coley BCAe
