Hundreds of donated children’s books reach youngsters

Hundreds of books collected at Derby City Lab during this year’s Derby Book Festival have been issued to schools and nurseries across the city.

During the festival, which took place in May, the St James’s Street venue opened its doors to accept donations of good quality, previously cherished children’s books.

Organised by Marketing Derby, the ‘Book Drop’ initiative saw around 800 books collected to give to children across the city who do not have books at home.

Derby Book Festival organisers took delivery of the books in July and then made a call out to Derby primary school and nurseries to register for a box of 50 books each.

During the final week of the summer school term, the books were sorted into age-appropriate boxes and collected by 15 city schools.

Some of the books were given to the children to read over the summer holidays while others will be used in school libraries for all the children to enjoy.

In a statement, the Derby Book Festival said: “We were overwhelmed by the generosity of local people and businesses.

“It was agreed that schools would know the best ways to ensure the books would reach the hands of children.

“A huge thanks to everyone who donated. Rest assured that the books have found a grateful new home.

“We are now planning to repeat the initiative again in 2024 and make it even bigger and better.”