<p>Tuesday, 14 February was International Book Giving Day, and to recognise it we collected books for the Children’s Book Project. This charity redistributes books to children who need them, for example through food banks and prisons.</p>
<p>Book ownership for children is really important. The National Literacy Trust released their latest annual report on children’s reading habits and access to reading material in August 2022, based on data from over 10,000 children. It makes for compelling reading, including that:</p>
<ul>
<li>Around one in five do not own a single book of their own. The reason is often, but not always, poverty.</li>
<li>78% of the children who own a book at home enjoy reading, compared to 66% of children who do not own a book.</li>
<li>8% say they never read at all, and just 52% read every day. 75% enjoy reading whereas just 5% don’t at all.</li>
<li>92% said that there are lots of things they want to read.</li>
<li>81% of children with a book at home rate themselves as good at reading, compared to 70% of children who do not own one. Children who own a book are six times more likely to read above the level expected of them for their age.</li>
<li>In terms of mental health, 64% of the children said that reading helps them relax, and 64% said that it makes them feel happy. 46% said that it makes them feel better when they are sad, and 36% said it helps them to deal with their problems.</li>
</ul>
<p>The statistics show that as well as being influential on reading ability, book ownership is also important for reading confidence and enjoyment, and crucially, for their mental health. It also shows they want to read. Books are powerful!</p>
<p>The Children’s Book Project collect pre-loved children’s books, clean and check them, and if in good enough condition redistribute them to children who need them. They understand the power of books and get them into the hands of children who need them most in a compassionate, thoughtful and inspiring way. The work they do relates well to the business of the OU (i.e. education), so in the run up to International Book Giving Day, I decided to start a collection for the charity.</p>
<p>On campus in Milton Keynes, collection boxes were placed in different places and publicised, to maximise engagement. As reuse is the second rung in the waste hierarchy, the Go Green Centre, who advise on all things environmental, also agreed to host a collection box. The Association’s elected Student Leadership Team (SLT) were also invited to contribute children’s books at their quarterly meeting in Milton Keynes.</p>
<p>The engagement has been brilliant, touching and inspiring. There have been books quietly dropped off by people I didn’t meet, while others have shared nice stories about the favourite books of their now older children that they were happy to pass on. We also had some brand new books donated too.</p>
<p>We had a great response, collecting 544 books, and have decided to continue to offer to collect books for the charity on an ongoing trial basis.</p>
<p>[zombify_post]</p>

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