Asda today announced that it is relaunching its instore book donation points with the aim of supporting families in accessing books through their nationwide partnership with literacy charity the Children’s Book Project.
The initiative enables customers across the UK to donate pre-loved children’s books in-store, for onward gifting to families with fewer books of their own.
Since the launch of the partnership in September 2024, over 100,000 books have already been collected, which means that the equivalent of over 50 primary schools full of children receiving at least two new books each.
Asda community champions will also be hosting reading activities and bringing ‘StoryTelling Magic’ to life in their stores and local communities in partnership with BBC’s Tiny Happy People.
The Children’s Book Project is on a mission to tackle book poverty in childhood. They take donations of surplus new and pre-loved books and gift them via schools, community groups and food banks to children that have very few books of their own.
From 14th February over 388 Asda superstores invite local families to donate any books they’ve grown out of, dropping them into a dedicated donation trolley hosted by the store’s Community Champion. Together the two organisations expect to give over 20,000 children the chance to participate in book gifting festivals hosted by their school or community group, where they will be able to choose and take home, books of their own.
Book poverty has a measurable impact on children’s social and emotional development, as well as their education outcomes, and the charity’s core mission chimes with Asda’s wider, ongoing initiatives to support low-income families. Through this partnership more children will have the chance to choose books they are excited about, to share stories with their wider family and to lose themselves in a story.
Asda’s National Charity Coordinator Carolyn Francis said: “Last year our customers donated over 100,000 pre-loved books across Asda stores that were then redistributed back into local communities. All children should be able to access a book without the cost being a barrier. Now is a great time for families to have a bit of a clear out and donate any books that their children may have grown out of which will then go on to benefit many other children in their area.”
Children’s Book project founder and CEO Liberty Venn said: “The support that Asda families have already shown for our work is incredible. It shows just how much parents understand the potential for the books they enjoyed with their children to make another child laugh or dream and to create shared reading opportunities at home.
“This exciting relaunch will enable us to reach so many more families nationwide, to help more children to lose (and find) themselves in books and to celebrate the role that Asda stores play within their communities.”
