Under the scheme, run by Booktrust in association with Pearson publishing, and backed by the Department for Education, every four- and five-year-old in England, will receive Tinga Tinga Tales - Why Elephant has a Trunk by Claudia Lloyd and the non-fiction book Face Painting by Monica Hughes.
The national free books programme for Reception class children, which is in its sixth year, will give away 1.38 million books to children this September , to help inspire a lifelong love of reading.
In March, the DfE committed to providing £13.5m of funding over two years, half the Government funding previously allocated to the initiative, to the scheme, along with Booktrust’s other programmes, Bookstart (for children 0-4 years) and Booked Up (11 years).
Viv Bird, chief executive of Booktrust said, ‘Booktrust is tremendously proud to work with Pearson to bring these wonderful titles into hundreds of thousands of homes, encouraging more family reading. Booktime, now in its sixth year, continues to give magical books to children at an important time for them as they start formal education, signalling the continuing importance of reading for pleasure as well as for learning.’
www.booktime.org.uk
