Target reached!
If we reach our target then perhaps we can spread the word even further. Hartlepool ...
The Day War Came into 285 schools around Teesside
Stockton On Tees, England, United Kingdom
Aim
To get a copy of The Day War Came by Nicola Davies into every school in the Tees Valley.
When our Walker Books rep showed us a copy of Nicola Davies' new book The Day War Came, which is beautifully illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, we were blown away by the moving story of the value of hope and compassion, which can often appear so be lacking today.
The book is based on a poem written by Nicola in the Spring of 2016 - following the UK's refusal to give sanctuary to 3000 unaccompanied child refugees, and in response to a story of a little refugee girl who was turned away from school because there wasn't a chair for her to sit on.
We felt that this important message about the power of kindness needed to be shared with children on Teesside, many of whom come from refugee communities. Teesside is a City of Sanctuary and already has long-standing experience and culture as a dispersal area.
Walker Books have fully supported this idea and have agreed to supply the books to us in such a way that we can kick start this Crowd Fund with a contribution from them.
As well as wanting to supply each school in the Tees Valley with a free copy of The Day War Came we want to ensure that the Help Refugees charity gets the charitable donation it would normally have got from the sale of the books. We also think it is vital that Nicola Davies and Rebecca Cobb each get their deserved royalties from the book sales. As an independent bookshop we are keen to ensure that the true value of books is recognised and authors and illustrators get a fair deal from the sale of their books.
A copy of The Day War Came will go to schools where we have existing links within the education authorities: Darlington, Stockton Borough, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and the Peterlee Partnership, 285 schools in total.
This venture fits in with our long term plans to run the bookshop as a Community Interest Company which will work with schools to bring authors, poets and illustrators into schools and provide each child with a book at no cost to either the school or the child. With this in mind, we have committed that any money beyond the cost of running this fund and the cost of the books will go towards this.
Amnesty International endorses the book and £1 from the sale of each book goes to helprefugees.org.
This project successfully funded on 6th August 2018