Hundreds Of Books Given To Leicester Children For World Book Day Celebrations
- Four-hundred books have been passed on to children to celebrate World Book Day, donated by National Literacy Trust
- World Book Day is today (Thursday 4 March) and highlights the importance of reading in a child’s educational development
- Eight Leicester City in the Community Premier League Primary Stars partner schools received a share of the 400 books
- Filbert Fox handed a selection of books to pupils at Stokes Wood Primary School
With support from its partners, Leicester City in the Community has given 400 free, brand new books to eight partner primary schools in their local area to support young readers.
It comes as part of an exciting partnership between the Premier League and the National Literacy Trust to celebrate World Book Day. In total, nearly 25,000 free books will be given away to children who need them most across the country.
Pupils taking part in the Premier League Primary Stars education programme, delivered by professional football club community organisations across England and Wales, will each receive a free copy of Football School: 20 Fantastic Football Stories.
The book, by authors Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton, is also a £1 World Book Day title.
National Literacy Trust research has found that children who have their own books are nearly three times more likely to enjoy reading.
The partnership will help support children whose access to physical books has been made difficult due to school and public library closures during the national lockdown, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During World Book Day, Leicester City in the Community’s Primary Stars coaches will be delivering engaging workshops to children – which includes support and advice from poet and author Karl Nova - to recognise the importance of the day.
Club mascot Filbert Fox also delivered some of the 400 donated books to Stokes Wood Primary School in New Parks, Leicester.
Glenn Short, Leicester City in the Community Primary Stars Coordinator, said: “World Book Day has been hugely successful, thanks to the wonderful donation of books we have received.
“A number of our partner schools have significantly benefitted from this and the celebration of reading can most certainly be seen.”
Jim Sells, Sport and Literacy Programme Manager at the National Literacy Trust, said: “World Book Day promotes reading for pleasure to improve all children’s life chances, and we are so pleased to support the charity behind the initiative.
“We know that children who have books at home do better in school, so we are delighted to be able to distribute such an incredible number of books to schools across the country with the help of the community organisations.
“I’d also like to thank our partners at Walker Books and the Morrisons Foundation for making this possible.”
You can find out more about World Book Day by clicking HERE.