Children’s book appeal proves overwhelming success

More than 2,500 children’s books have been donated to an appeal organised by Derby Book Festival, which was supported by Marketing Derby’s Derby City Lab, the University of Derby, QUAD and Derbion.

During the recent Autumn Edition of the book festival, collection points were set up across the city by the event’s partners.

The donated pre-loved books will now be distributed to Derby schools, nurseries and child minders.

The appeal aimed to spread a love of books and encourage a new generation of readers.

Donated books are given to schools to support them in their literacy programmes and to pass onto children who have no books at home.

Recent research from the National Literacy Trust reported that children who have books of their own at home engage more with reading and are six times more likely to read above the level expected for their age groups.

The donated books are now sorted and are making their way to 14 Derby primary schools, 10 nurseries, four local child minders and Derby libraries.

Liz Fothergill CBE, chair of the Derby Book Festival, said: “We’ve simply been overwhelmed with the generosity of the people, businesses and organisations in and around Derby.

“As the donated books rolled in, our office was filled to the brim with bright wonderful books suitable for very young children through to fabulous fiction and non-fiction books aimed at primary school pupils.

“Having more than 2,500 books given during the appeal means that as well as donating much-needed books to local schools, we have also been able to donate to local nurseries and child minders.

“Children are never too young to discover the magic of books and the success of this appeal means we can help more children engage with books from a very early age.”

The University of Derby hosted several drop-off points around the university’s campus.

Dr Rhiannon Jones, the university’s associate professor for civic practice, said: “As a civic university we are committed to supporting local communities and this is underlined by the fact that Derby is now a UNESCO city of lifelong learning.

“This project with Derby Book Festival exemplified the deep-rooted community spirit and joy of reading across Derby and the kindness from people in our communities to donate books and create lifelong learning opportunities for others.”