Coram's Foundling Hospital (1739), now the Foundling Museum, was one of our close neighbours when Persephone Books shop on Lamb's Conduit Street in London. The Coram charity group continues Thomas Coram's admirable work, and the Coram Beanstalk partners with volunteers and schools to "provide one-to-one support to children who are behind, giving them the help and encouragement they need to catch up ...to learn to read and become readers for life" These Italian Girls (1938) by Roland Vivian Pym (1920-2006) in Manchester Art Gallery look like happy, confident readers, something we would all like for our children.