My name is Paul and I have been in education for over 25 years.
I now run community book events across my local area, and support a team doing so nationwide. We all understand how important reading is, and here are some facts for you to digest...
6.5% of children aged 8-18 say they don’t own a book at home. This equates to half a million children.
This rises to 10% of children who are on free school meals.
20% of children say they never read.
70% of children who are excluded from school have poor literacy skills.
22.3% of children have fewer than 10 books at home. This rises to 32.1% of children on free school meals.
39.7% of children with fewer than 10 books at home read for pleasure.
71.3% of children who have more than 10 books at home read for pleasure, a difference of more than 31%.
16.4% of adults have poor literacy skills. That is 7.1 million people.
60% of the prison population have poor literacy skills.
As you can see, reading isn't just a nice thing, it is a huge deal that changes lives.
I am crowdfunding to raise enough money to put 10,000 books into the hands of children across some of the poorest areas of the UK. The money will also pay for protective covers and printing costs. Advertising of the hunts will be completed by my team at their own expense, using social media and other local outlets.
The book hunt will drive exposure to reading. It will also get children out exploring their local environment, discovering new places and keeping fit.
This is a small start, I would like to then replicate this with over 100,000 books in 2025.
It will take just 220 donating £50 to hit our target, can you help make it happen?