Books For Change is a campaign that’s been 18 months in the making. It started in the lockdown of 2020, out of frustration with the books that co-founders Emily Ghassempour and Wendy Venables-Gordon’s own children were bringing home from school.

Co-founder Emily talks about Books for Change for our Advent Calendar:

With a wealth of experience in community engagement, storytelling and a passion for diverse children’s literature, the duo set about crowdfunding to raise funds for inclusive books for their children’s school.

Within two weeks, they had raised £3,000 to buy their local schools new diverse books featuring Black protagonists, children and families of colour, families with two mums or two dads, books that help to explain gender identity and what LGBTQI means, books featuring people who have disabilities and on Black history, books about mighty Iranian girls and boys who dare to be different.

Every child deserves to see themselves represented in a book.

Their campaign now includes every primary school in their hometown of Folkestone, and more campaigns have kicked off across the country with their help.

They have recently hand built their very first ‘Little Free Library’ to help ensure diverse and inclusive books are accessible to everyone in their community. With generous donations, they can keep the library stocked up with beautiful books that represent every young person and their family.

Emily and Wendy passionately believe that every child deserves to see themselves represented in a book, but they need your help to make it happen!

To find out more and donate, visit: www.booksforchange.co.uk or check them out on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @booksforchange_