"We receive few books whose main characters represent the full range of children's experiences. We believe that every child should be able to recognise their lives in the books they read, and to draw inspiration and validation from these characters." Kirstin Knell, DE&I Manager, Children's Book Project

The Children's Book Project gifts pre-loved children's books to children with few books if any, of their own. We take donations from families whose children have grown out of their books and are always astonished by their high quality and by the range of titles we receive.

However, we currently receive few books in which the main characters represent the full range of childrens ethnicities, life experiences and orientation. Only a small number of the books gifted to us are yet representative of the breadth of young readers lives or celebrate those of their peers. Some wonderful books are being written but they have not yet been grown out of by their young readers and hence passed on to us.

The Opportunity

Whilst the publishing industry responds to hugely increased appetite for titles that celebrate all, we want to "prime the pump" so that every child we gift to can see themselves in at least some of the books we gift. We are seeking to raise funds to buy books that champion diversity, equality and inclusion and that represent the realities of the world that children live in. With your help we will gift a box of carefully selected titles to every school we partner with during the first half of the Spring term (and beyond, funding permitted) for them to share with their pupils and parent community.

Our "Everyone's Story" boxes are curated by Letterbox Library and informed in part by the Reflecting Realities Research by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. We're proud to work with these two organisations, which are both committed to ensuring that children can access relevant, high quality and inspiring texts from a young age.

The Impact

Every £200 donated will enable us to source and gift a box of forty representative picture and chapter books to one of our partner schools during the Spring term. We have been fortunate enough to have been given a discount on all books purchased, ensuring that your donation has greatest impact.