A great addition to the WiT offer since 2019-20, Our Best Picture Book seeks to involve Year 2 in their very own reading award. In brief, the purpose of the project is to engage pupils and their families in reading, discussing and judging the merits of six picture book titles, borrowing the books and sharing them together. It follows a similar format to Our Best Book and is co-ordinated in partnership with Leicester Libraries and Creative Learning Services (CLS).

The project aims to:

• Inspire and motivate children in Year 2 to be active readers
• Inspire and motivate parents to be involved in their child’s reading
• Develop and support reading for pleasure in KS1
• Develop awareness of new titles/authors
• Provide schools with multiple copies of a range of picture books to use as part of the project and beyond
• Encourage children to become active library members

How can schools get involved?

The project will run from January - April 2026. Participation is funded for maintained Leicester city schools. There are two options for non-maintained Leicester city schools and Leicestershire schools wishing to participate:

Option 1) £300 per school (includes approximately a minimum of 5 copies of each of the 6 shortlisted books, and resources)

Option 2) £550 per school (includes approximately a minimum of 10 copies of each of the 6 shortlisted books, and resources)

Once registered, WiT will contact non-maintained/Leicestershire schools to confirm which option you wish to be charged for.

For more information about this project or to book on, please email hayley.carter@sdsa.net