The Children’s Book Project launched their dedicated Leeds hub last month with a Book Drive at Richmond House School, who are collecting pre-loved books to donate to children and families across the city.
These most loved titles will be gifted to children with very few or no books of their own, the mission of the national literacy charity The Children’s Book Project which is setting up regional hubs in Oxford, Birmingham and Leeds to expand on its successful work in London.
These Book Drives will support a year round deeper gifting programme targeting schools in and around Leeds that support some of most disadvantaged communities across the county, helping each to foster a culture of empowered book choice and ownership. The Children’s Book Project gives children in primary schools the language of anticipation and creates ‘book rich’ communities where book swapping may become sustainable.
The charity’s founder Liberty Venn commented:
“Being read to, sharing a book with an adult or reading independently helps children to develop socially and emotionally, offers escapism and a chance to become immersed in new worlds. It is this immersion in books that drives a child’s literacy development, their confidence in themselves as a reader and invites them to see the world differently.
“We could not be more grateful for this support from Richmond House which has the power to transform our programmes and in turn so many young people’s relationships with books. Many of the titles gifted represent amongst them so many compelling reads and we cannot wait to hear about the impact they are undoubtedly going to have amongst our recipient audiences.”
The Children’s Book Project have already received great support from longstanding successful local Social Enterprise, Seagulls. The number one paint reuse charity’s volunteers have helped paint and refurbish book huts, courier books to local schools and provide a donation point for books to be dropped off.
If you think your school or community would like to get involved by holding a book drive and making a real difference, take a look at how you can sign up online.
This post is based on a press release issued by The Children’s Book Project
Photo: Ruksar from Seagulls with the Little Book Huts
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