In the UK’s biggest annual free book giveaway for schools, the charity Booktrust will be delivering more than 2 million free books to every pupil in reception and Year 7 by Christmas, through their Booktime and Booked Up programmes. Tthe aim of both programmes, which are supported by the DCSF  is to encourage reading for pleasure.

The Booktime programme, which is run in association with education and publishing company Pearson, will this year give a copy of Puffin’s Mr Big by Ed Vere and The Booktime Book of Fantastic First Poems edited by June Crebbin. The packs will also contain guidance material for parents and carers to encourage sharing books with children.

 The Booked Up programme allows each child to make their own choice of book from a selection of 12 titles. The programme encourages Year 7 pupils to read independently and supports reading for pleasure as children make the sometimes difficult transition from primary to secondary education.

The new Booked Up book list: 

Flood Child  (previously titled Reaver's Ransom) by Emily Diamond (Chicken House)

Read Me Out Loud! – Poetry anthology (Macmillan Children’s Books)

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Puffin Children’s Books)

Once by Morris Gleitzman (Puffin Children’s Books)

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos (Random House)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (Puffin Children’s Books)

Desirable by Frank Cottrell Boyce (Barrington Stoke)

WOW! 366 – Short story collection (Scholastic Children’s Books)

Blood Hunters by Steve Voake (Faber and Faber)

Underworld by Cathy MacPhail (Bloomsbury)

An Urgent Message of Wowness by Karen McCombie (Scholastic Children’s Books)

How Loud Can you Burp? by Glenn Murphy (Macmillan Children’s Books)

 Picture book option:

Derek the Sheep by Gary Northfield (Bloomsbury)