Supermarket giant Asda has joined forces with literacy charity the Children's Book Project to help donate pre-loved children’s books to families who have fewer books of their own.

The country-wide campaign follows successful pilots across Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and London which saw more than 6,000 books donated and redistributed through Asda stores.

The Children’s Book Project takes donations of new and pre-loved books and gives them via schools, community groups and food banks to children who have few books of their own.

More than over 388 Asda stores are taking part and are providing a dedicated donation trolley for the books, hosted by the store’s Customer and Community Champion. 

The scheme is hoping to give more than 20,000 children the chance to take part in book gifting festivals hosted by their school or community group, where they will be able to choose and take home books of their own.

Asda has also recently launched its Cashpot for Schools campaign which is making millions of pounds available to primary schools through the Asda Rewards loyalty programme.

The launch came after recent research by Asda revealed nine in 10 primary school teachers admitted their schools were reliant on parents and Parent Teacher Associations for funding.

Schools can use the money towards a whole range of items including books and equipment.

Carolyn Francis, of Asda’s Community Team, said: “It’s great to have an accessible book donation point in our store where we can then redistribute them back into our local community.

“All children should be able to access a book without the cost being a barrier.

“This is also a great opportunity for families to have a bit of a clear out and donate any books that their children may have grown out of which will then go on to benefit many other children in our area.”

Children’s Book project founder and CEO Liberty Venn said: “We are incredibly excited about the opportunity that Asda is giving to their customers nationwide to send their children’s pre-loved books on new adventures.

“Like us, Asda want to help tackle book poverty in childhood.

“Every book donated will reach a new home and impact another child, raising aspirations and building reading communities.”