"I cannot applaud The Pyjama Foundation enough for this grand innovative idea and the sterling work they are undertaking to put that idea into practice."

Mem Fox has written over 25 books for adults and children, including Possum Magic which has sold over 2 million copies and is the best-selling picture book ever in Australia. Mem Fox was also awarded Australian of the Year for South Australia, 2003, and finalist for the Australian of the Year 2004.

A letter of support from Mem Fox AM

It is with great interest that I’ve become aware of The Pyjama Foundation and its excellent work in reading aloud to children in foster care. These children miss out on many positive aspects of childhood, including the fun, the laughter, the togetherness and the educational value of being read to aloud.

Being read to become an indicator of literacy success, emotional well-being and educational self-esteem. The warmth of stories, the care and focus of adults, and the establishment of routine in lives that are fractured can only help to enhance the world that foster children have to live in and cope with.

As an educator with over twenty five years experience, and as a literacy consultant for the last ten years (and as Australia’s resident Read Aloud Lunatic!) I know that children who have not fallen in love with books don’t learn to read easily, happily and quickly. Children who are read aloud to regularly associate books with feelings of safety and happiness and fall into literacy without much trouble at all, often without lessons, often before they start school. Foster children need the literacy, of course, but it’s through the warmth and care of loving adults that this will occur, not through extra coaching by a remedial teacher who may only have a professional relationship with the child.

The work of The Pyjama Foundation is particularly exciting since in their program the bonding with an adult will happen at the same time as children bond with particular books that they will want to hear over and over again, which will in turn, develop their ability to read and write.