C’MON YOU READS
Marcus launches a kids’ book club
FOOTBALLER and children’s champ Marcus Rashford has teamed up with a publisher and a breakfast club charity to get kids reading.
Macmillan Children’s Books will donate 50,000 books to be distributed by the Magic Breakfast charity for the Marcus Rashford Book Club.
It has been set up by the England and Man Utd star to encourage and nurture a love of reading in disadvantaged kids.
It will launch in June with its first title, A Dinosaur Ate My Sister by Pooja Puri, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan.
Magic Breakfast ensures 170,000 children in 850 primary schools in England and Scotland start the day well-fed.
The free books will be divided between the schools Magic Breakfast supports and given to the pupils to own.
A survey by the National Literacy Trust in 2019 showed that 383,775 children did not own a single book.
Marcus, 23, a campaigner against child poverty, said: “For too long, the joy of reading has been restricted by whether or not a family has the contingency budget to purchase books.
“The children who often miss out are those on Free School Meals and users of Breakfast Clubs, who more than likely need fiction, and non-fiction, to escape reality from time to time.
“We haven’t been affording these children the option of reading for fun, but that changes today. I’m really happy to be partnering with Magic Breakfast to get our books in the hands of children that need them most.”
@MatthewYoung7