11th January 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Secondary Schools in England are to be given more than 53,000 free books, in a scheme run jointly by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the School Library Association, the BBC has reported. The scheme will offer 15 books to each school, and 25 to schools where more than 30% of the students are eligible for free school meals.
There is a list of 260 books to choose from, the authors include Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, Bram Stoker and Bill Bryson. This list was created by Eileen Armstrong, a school librarian at Cramlington Learning Village, who says she designed the list to ensure that every child could find something which would appeal to them
The chief executive of the School Library Association, Tricia Adams, said that “Reading gives children different perspectives on life and is empowering because through it they can learn new things and develop their reading and personal skills like decision making“.