Today, Bupa Foundation and the National Literacy Trust announce a donation of 1,389 paperback copies of Bloomsbury Publishing’s The Book of Hopes to 463 primary schools across Oldham, Rochdale, Salford and Manchester city centre, providing an essential boost of hope to children during the second national lockdown.
Manchester book donation happened in collaboration with Read Manchester, a campaign from the National Literacy Trust and Manchester City Council to promote reading and boost literacy across the city.
Local schools have received The Book of Hopes, Bloomsbury’s collection of inspiring short stories, artwork and poems from more than 130 much-loved children’s authors, illustrators and poets. The book was launched and curated by author Katherine Rundell in response to the first national lockdown in April.
Children in the area are encouraged to enter the National Literacy Trust’s competition for all 5,000 schools who received the donations nationwide. The charity is requesting teachers and children share information on how they’re spreading optimism and hope in school and the community, taking inspiration from the artwork and writing in Bloomsbury’s original version.
Primary school teachers are asked to collate the work to create a Scrapbook of Hopes. Entrants will be in for a chance to win a set of Katherine Rundell’s best-selling books and exclusively signed artwork for their school library. One school will receive a virtual visit from Katherine Rundell.
The competition runs from 26 November until 31 January, and teachers should complete a short form and submit photos of their unique work to bookofhopes@literacytrust.org.uk.
The National Literacy Trust research shows that reading for pleasure improves mental wellbeing, with more than half of children saying reading in lockdown this spring made them feel better and half saying it inspired them to dream about the future.
Alice Birdwood, Project Manager at the National Literacy Trust, says:
“This book has joy, hope and happiness bursting out of its pages and it’s fantastic to be able to gift it to so many schools in the region. I can’t wait to see the entries to the Scrapbook of Hopes competition and hope that it helps to lift spirits amidst such a testing time.”
Katherine Rundell, author and curator of Bloomsbury Publishing’s The Book of Hopes says:
“I started The Book of Hopes at a moment when the world looked very bleak; and having such a tsunami of joy and delight in my inbox, as more than 100 illustrators and writers sent in their work, was transformative.
“I am so vastly glad that 15,000 copies of the book will reach the kids who need hope most; will be read and pored over and laughed at and covered in food stains and underlined and loved.”
