Marcus Rashford launches book club so ‘every child’ has the chance to read

Marcus Rashford MBE has launched a book club which aims to encourage young disadvantaged children to read.

The United star will be helping to pick out books that will depict a diverse array of characters, which he hopes will appeal to the youngsters.

The books chosen will feature a stamp showing they are a part of the Marcus Rashford Book Club and he will also be mentioning them on his social media.

He said that his books ‘are, and always will be, for every child, even if I have to deliver them myself’, with partner charities giving away books to disadvantaged children.

The new scheme is in collaboration with Macmillan Children’s Books. In an interview with The Sun, Rashford said: “I just wish I was offered the opportunity to really engage with reading more as a child, but books were never a thing we could budget for as a family when we needed to put food on the table.”

He explained that it wasn’t until he was 17 when he started to love to read. 

As it stands, 380,000 children in the UK do not own a book. He wants the ‘escapism’ offered by a good book to be accessible ‘for all children. Not just those that can afford it.’ 

Rashford is even co-writing a non-fiction self-help book titled ‘YOU ARE A CHAMPION: Unlock Your Potential, Find Your Voice and Be the BEST You Can Be’.

The latest efforts by Rashford come just two weeks after Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to provide free school meals over the winter holidays in a U-Turn after Rashford’s campaigning for months.

Johnson personally phoned Rashford earlier this month to alert him to the decision to give £170m extra funding for the measure. 

Rashford said he was ‘so proud’ of all those who had united his campaign and that he was ‘overwhelmed by the outpouring of empathy and understanding’, promising his supporters to ‘fight for the rest of my life’ to end child hunger in the UK.

In a statement earlier this month, he said: “Following the game today, I had a good conversation with the Prime Minister to better understand the proposed plan, and I very much welcome the steps that have been taken to combat child food poverty in the UK.

“There is still so much more to do, and my immediate concern is the approximate 1.7 million children who miss out on free school meals, holiday provision and Healthy Start vouchers because their family income isn’t quite low enough, but the intent the Government have shown today is nothing but positive and they should be recognised for that.