S&S UK, Percival and NLT unite to boost children's reading

Simon & Schuster UK Children’s Books is launching a major new partnership with the National Literacy Trust (NLT) centred on The Wrong Shoes, the forthcoming illustrated middle-grade novel from Tom Percival. 

Written and illustrated by Percival, The Wrong Shoes will be published in May 2024 and S&S UK seeks to promote children’s reading through the book’s campaign.

The publisher said: “One of the core themes at the heart of the book is the pressure that financial hardship puts on children whose families are struggling. It tells the story of Will, who feels he stands out for all the wrong reasons but whose life is transformed by the empathy of others and his own creativity." 

The partnership aims to promote reading in areas of socio-economic deprivation and S&S UK and Percival will join the NLT to work together across fundraising, campaigning, events and free book distribution via NLT hubs

The new partnership will support the NLT’s work with more than 300,000 children from disadvantaged backgrounds at 16 regional hubs, aiming to improve book ownership and increase their levels of reading enjoyment.  

A variety of activity is planned throughout the year including: a £1 donation to the NLT from every hardback copy sold of The Wrong Shoes and a donation of 15,000 books from S&S UK for children in communities with low reading and literacy levels.

There will also be events with Percival to help engage young people in reading and events for teachers to support lessons while Percival will also become one of the NLT’s ambassadors.

He said: “When I was young, my family didn’t have much money which could often make life challenging. There are countless reasons why a family might face a difficult financial situation, but one thing is certain: it is never a child’s fault.

“This is what I’m exploring in this book – the inequality of a situation that many children are facing today. This is a story about Will’s struggle to keep afloat in a system that is stacked against him; to try to choose hope in the face of some very difficult circumstances. To work with the National Literacy Trust on this project is fantastic as they’re an organisation I’ve admired for many years and do so much great work to help children improve their outcomes.” 

Rachel Denwood, m.d. at S&S UK’s Children’s Books, said: “From the moment we started talking to Tom about The Wrong Shoes it was clear that this was a critically important and urgent book. It is so rare to read stories about the child’s experience of poverty and since, catastrophically, this is the reality for a fast-growing number of children it was beholden on us, as Tom’s publisher, to create an ambitious partnership that might create some change for children in our most in-need communities.” 

Jonathan Douglas, c.e.o. of the NLT, said: “The Wrong Shoes tells the story of Will – a boy who is living in difficult and challenging circumstances, and how this affects all aspects of his life. Every day the National Literacy Trust supports hundreds of young people living lives just like Will’s and it’s wonderful that Tom and Simon & Schuster are joining us to help us reach out to more young people in need.” 

Research commissioned by the NLT shows that children who enjoy reading are three times more likely to have good mental wellbeing than children who don’t enjoy it.