Manchester Children’s Book Festival organises huge book giveaway to children in greatest need

Manchester Children’s Book Festival has donated thousands of books to children in greatest need

Thousands of books - from classic Philip Pullman to Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid page-turners - have been donated to schools, libraries and community organisations in disadvantaged areas of Greater Manchester to help children keep reading during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Manchester Children’s Book Festival’s (MCBF) Big Book Giveaway 2020 has given away almost 2000 books to provide a welcome boost to families affected by school closures. 

MCBF is a year-round programme of literary events and projects that help children to develop a love of reading and writing. Organised by the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University, its Creative Director, Carol Ann Duffy, established MCBF during her tenure as Poet Laureate.

Plans for this year included an MCBF Poetry in the Park Fun Day to help launch the new Manchester Poetry Library but, when this was cancelled due to COVID-19, organisers quickly diverted their attention to helping children at home.

Major publishers, including Penguin/Random House, Macmillan Children’s, Scholastic and Hachette Kids responded to donate titles worth a total of £15,000, including novels, poetry anthologies, biographies, writing journals and sticker and cardboard books for younger readers.

Katie Sinfield, from Penguin Random House, said: “Libraries were my sanctuary growing up in the Midlands, and I don’t think I’d be working here if it weren’t for having access to books back then, so I’m very pleased we are able to assist families in need.”

Alyx Price, from Macmillan Children’s, said: “I couldn't be more delighted that we have been able to help in this way.”

Titles donated included works by much-loved authors like Jacqueline Wilson, Roald Dahl, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Tom Fletcher, Roddy Doyle and Floella Benjamin and poets such as Brian Moses, Roger McGough, Paul Cookson, Matt Goodfellow and, Carol Ann Duffy. 

Duffy said: “At the heart of MCBF is our wish to bring children into contact with books and to nurture our young readers. The incredibly generous donation by publishers of free books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction for children has meant we have been able to continue this work during lockdown.

“I owe my life to books, from my local library or local bookshop when I was growing up, and it is important to me and to my colleagues at MCBF to nourish the imaginations and dreams of children through reading.”

Kaye Tew, Director of MCBF at Manchester Metropolitan, sorted the 50-plus titles from her home, since the University’s buildings were off limits during lockdown, and delivered the donated books with her dog, Marley, over the summer.

She selected schools, libraries, and charities in areas of Manchester with the greatest social and economic need. The scheme builds on MCBF’s existing outreach work, engaging Manchester’s diverse local communities with the University’s creative writing expertise.

Tew said: “It was important to us to make sure that these books got into the hands of children who would benefit most, so I called on people who I knew could help.  We also wanted parents and children to be able to choose books, just as they would in a bookshop, so we worked closely with librarians, teachers and charity organisations to select the right titles for their children and to agree how the books would be made available.”

Teachers, for example, have gifted the books to children they knew would benefit most, building competitions and projects around them in order to engage pupils in reading for pleasure. 

Manchester Libraries staff copied and laminated book covers, so that children could browse in a COVID-secure way and choose their favourite. Charities organising drop-ins and foodbanks have displayed the books similarly, enabling parents and grandparents to select books they know their children will love.

Each book gifted contained an MCBF Big Book Giveaway bookmark, which invited children to respond to the books they received by writing a poem or an illustration and to ask their teachers, librarians or another adult to send them to MCBF via Twitter.

One nine-year-old girl from Brunswick, who got a copy of Roddy Doyle’s Brilliant, said: "I started reading the book last Friday and I am up to page 185 already. It's a really good book."

Librarian Amanda Childs, from Lostock High School in Stretford, said: “As a welcome gift to the school after a difficult time I was so pleased to be gifted these books. I know the students will truly appreciate them and will be amazed that they are being given a brand-new book to keep forever. The smiles on their faces today was fantastic.”

Leigh M’Rabty, Services Development Co-ordinator – South Area (Manchester City Council), said: “We have loved being part of the MCBF’s big book giveaway, it came at the perfect time just as we started to open some of our libraries back up, so the children were desperate and very excited to get their hands on fabulous books to read, enjoy and talk about.  It is always a pleasure for us to be able to gift a child with a book and encourage a love and passion for Reading.”