Marcus Rashford Book Club extended with NLT and KPMG partnership

Macmillan Children’s Books is extending its its partnership with the National Literacy Trust (NLT) and added KPMG as a partner for the Marcus Rashford Book Club, which will donate 50,000 more books in 2022.

The books will be given out through primary schools, along with supporting physical and digital resources for teachers and parents throughout the year.

Launched in June 2021, the club has already donated more than 150,000 books to children via partner schools of children’s food charity Magic Breakfast.

Previous books in the reader-recommended programme include A Dinosaur Ate My Sister by Pooja Puri, illustrated by Allen Fatimaharan, and Silas and the Marvellous Misfits by Tom Percival. It was recently announced that The Breakfast Club Adventures, co-written by Marcus Rashford and Alex Falase-Koya, will be the third title.

Rashford said: “The book club is a really important project of mine and it’s been brilliant to not only see big smiles on the faces of children when they receive the books but to hear how they have been inspired by what they have read and those who wrote and/or illustrated them. We have engaged these children and now we have to keep facilitating them with the right books that not only represent them but can support them. For the book club to be self-sufficient and have the greatest impact we need to bring in fantastic partners with similar visions and I’m thrilled to not only welcome KPMG into the fold, but to continue our great relationship with the National Literacy Trust.”

Belinda Ioni Rasmussen, m.d. of Macmillan Children’s Books, added: “The Marcus Rashford Book Club has had a brilliant start in 2021 and the programme is strengthened for 2022 with this news today. We are delighted to be deepening our relationship with NLT and welcoming KPMG to the campaign. I know that our shared ambition to develop literacy skills for life and the joy of reading for pleasure will successfully build on the foundation begun this year and that through our partnership we have a renewed opportunity to make a positive impact on even more children’s lives in the coming year.”

According to recent NLT research, 6% of UK children don’t own a book of their own. This equates to 413,068 children and young people in the UK. More children who receive free school meals said that they didn’t have a book of their own at home compared with their peers who don’t receive them (9.2% versus 5.3%).

The NLT said: “This initiative is incredibly inspiring as it gets books directly into the hands of children who might otherwise go without, and tangibly addresses the widening literacy gap between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers. We’re delighted to be growing our partnership with Macmillan Children’s Books, the Marcus Rashford Book Club and KPMG.”

Rachel Hopcroft, partner and head of corporate affairs at KPMG in the UK, commented: “Literacy is one of the key building blocks of social mobility and ensuring that every young child in society has equal opportunity to thrive is essential if we are to build a fairer and more prosperous society for all. We are thrilled to have joined forces with the National Literacy Trust, Macmillan Children’s Books and the Marcus Rashford Book Club, donating over 50,000 books to the children who need them the most. As we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, this is just one of the tangible ways we can support local communities by improving literacy and along with it, social mobility.”

Further partners supporting the book club in 2022 and beyond will be announced at a later date.