Disadvantaged children, who are 15 times less likely to achieve a reading age above average, are set to benefit from a ‘book gifting day’ organised by a group of Bolton teenagers. The event, led by youth charity Xplode will be held at Bolton Central Library on 2 March 2019 from 11am until 3pm.
The event comes as shocking figures from the National Literacy Trust revealed at more than 40,000 schoolchildren in Greater Manchester don’t own a single book and have much poorer educational outcomes than their peers.
Volunteers aged 15-21 from Xplode came up with the idea as part of their ‘social action project’ where four times per year, they tackle a social issue that they’ve identified.
“We wanted to tackle the child literacy divide as part of our project and thought of the book gifting day because we can have real impact,” said 19 year old Jacob Aspinall. “I remember when we had to bring in a book to school and somebody brought in an Argos catalogue because they didn’t own a book. This can’t happen in 2019.”
As part of the event for children aged 7-11, there will be storytelling sessions led by the Xplode volunteers, free Roald Dahl craft sessions and the chance to win a collection of Roald Dahl books worth over £100.
