Eton College’s first ‘book drive’ has collected 1,368 books over the last two weeks. Masterminded by School Library Administrator Hannah Bird, the drive has donated the books to the Children’s Book Project, whose core aim is to address the disparity of book ownership amongst children and young people.
Hannah first came upon the idea when discussing School Library’s plans to celebrate World Book Day 2022. When reading more about the annual event online, she discovered an article which revealed that an estimated 400,000 children in Britain do not have a book of their own at home.
Knowing how important literacy skills are to a great start in life, and how much her children enjoy reading at home, she developed the idea of a school-wide book drive.
Individual pupils, parents, members of the Eton community and entire boarding Houses rose to the challenge, donating an average of one book per pupil in an incredible two week turnaround.
The drive collection was delivered to local charity The Children’s Book Project last week. With the level of enthusiasm for this year’s drive, and support from Head Librarian Sarah Warren and the Lower Master Su Wijeratna, Hannah hopes the drive will return next year – even bigger and better!
