Without barriers

Differences in language and culture need not be a barrier to a child's early discovery and enjoyment of books, says library outreach worker Viv Hampshire In an ideal world, the first steps towards introducing babies to books take place at home. But what happens when a child is growing up in a home far from their own country, a home where English is not spoken as the first language, a home where there are no books? As library outreach worker to Sure Start Townfield in Hillingdon, London, I have met many such children.