Children’s charity donates books to Newham Hospital for International Book Giving Day

A children’s reading charity has helped young patients at Newham Hospital to take their mind off treatment by giving Newham Hospital a supply of books to mark International Book Giving Day.

The Children’s Literacy Charity gave a range of books by authors including Enid Blyton and Derek Landy to mark the day on Wednesday.

Hamera Elahi, specialist play worker at Newham University Hospital, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome The Children’s Literacy Charity to Newham - the children all really appreciated the books.

“Not all of our patients want to get involved in group activities, so the books are perfect for when patients want some time to themselves and to take their mind off their treatment.”

Alexandra Charalambous, head of education development at The Children’s Literacy Charity, said: “As part of International Book Giving Day, we wanted to reach out to children other than in a school setting who if they had a book to read, would make their day just a little bit better.

“Seeing some on the children’s faces when they received a book demonstrates how children do really want to read or just to be read to which is also equally important.”