The LSHP Foundation and gbpFoundation and have been supporting Own Books for some time, so we were delighted to have an update from the team on what they have been up to during the difficult lockdown period, along with the news that they officially became a registered charity in July.
Own Books was founded by Julie de Bastion in response to the discovery that some children do not have books at home, while she was being a volunteer reading helper in a local primary school. Since then, the project and scheme has grown and Own Books supplies many preschools, parent centres, primary schools and high schools with a regular supply of free books to suit all ages and variety of reading and subject matter for the children and their parents to take home and keep or return to the school with no obligation.
Julie and the Own Books team have been busy developing a range of online services during lockdown and reaching out in ways to stimulate reading and books with the launch of their Own Books YouTube channel; “Story time with Julie” and offering interactive engagement on their Facebook and Instagram pages.
The team are also delighted to announce the launch of another new exciting poetry writing project, planned for the coming academic year 20/21 called “The Poet Tree.” They are hoping to invite and engage schools in this stimulating, non-competitive project, to encourage children to write about their feelings and experiences, turning to the inspiration of Nature as our greatest resource.
They would also like to invite illustrator / artists, aged from 11 to 18, to illustrate the anthologies created in the project. If you’d like to get involved please email Grace at the Ownbooks_poettree@yahoo.com email address for more information.
OwnBooks is looking forward to resuming their usual service for children so they may have free books to take home and keep. If you have any books you wish to donate to Own Books or wish to be a recipient of our projects please email: Ownbooksforchildren@gmail.com
Visit www.ownbooks.co.uk for more details.