Konnie Huq, Jamie Oliver, David Baddiel, Adam Kay, Mary Portas and Joseph Coelho are among those collaborating on an ebook about the climate crisis which will be free to access for every UK primary school.
And I'm betting the ones squawking about celebrities writing children's books won't be uttering a single peep about this....
The ebook, Children for Change, is edited by Huq and features contributions from more than 80 writers, illustrators, environmentalists and young people including Tom Gates author Liz Pichon, The Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler and TV presenter Chris Packham. The book contains stories, poems, illustrations and features about a variety of topics related to the environment including fast fashion, rewilding and measuring our carbon footprint.
Ugh! Children are usually pretty good about avoiding propaganda and stories adults encourage them to read, so hopefully, they will regard this with as much horror as I once regarded stuff by Enid Blyton.
The introduction advises children to “start anywhere” in the book. “It’s a chocolate box, essentially”, said Huq.
Well, Jamie Oliver won't like that! He's a health nut now, isn't he?
“What I love about the idea behind this book is that it’s not all doom and gloom,” said Young Bond series author Charlie Higson, whose writing appears in the anthology. “It’s about letting kids know there are things they can do to safeguard their futures and encouraging them to get involved.”
Because how else can the next cadre of eco-terrorists be raised?
Huq said it was important that the book was made available for free because there are many children who do not own books, as well as schools that do not have libraries.
A school with no library is an abomination.
"Huw said it's important that this book be provided for free ........"
ReplyDeleteExactly who does this extremely wealthy woman expect to pay for the printing and distribution? Let me guess, could it be the taxpayer?
If this book is, in their view, so important, Shirley this group of millionaires could pay for this themselves, as well as foregoing any royalties from purchases by loony left authorities.
Penseivat
"Let me guess, could it be the taxpayer?"
DeleteUndoubtedly!
‘A school with no library is an abomination.’
ReplyDeleteHear, hear!
I once had the misfortune to work in a (secondary) school where the new Head closed the library and replaced it with a shiny new ‘Learning Resource Centre’ furnished with rows of computers and a few carefully-selected magazines and coffee-table volumes reflecting his preferred ideology - that anthology would have been a shoo-in.
The books which had previously lined the shelves were unceremoniously put out for disposal*, in part because a number of the older works of fiction were deemed ‘problematic’ - which may have been part of the reasoning behind the abolition of many school libraries and the loss of available books to a generation of children; how wonderful that these celebrities are now there to help!
*This was so distressing that I ended up rescuing large numbers of them from the skip (rather like one of those women who adopt dozens of stray cats); they do get in the way but at least, if solar flares wipe out the internet and the kindle, I’ll still have more than enough reading material to see me out.
"I once had the misfortune to work in a (secondary) school where the new Head closed the library and replaced it with a shiny new ‘Learning Resource Centre’..."
DeleteUgh! Mind you. a lot of public libraries seem to have gone this way too, over the years....
I think that Anonymous has misunderstood what an ebook is.
ReplyDeleteIt's not TOTALLY free of all cost, is it?
DeleteIt's so kind of all these one-time "slebs" to scaremonger on behalf of so many dubious causes. Otherwise what reason would they have to get out from under their rocks and into the glare of free publicity?
ReplyDeleteThat awful Pack Ham creature gets everywhere. I suspect he's being lined up to replace the Atten Bore when he pops his vegan clogs (crafted from potato peelings and cabbage ass wipe leaves by the indigenous natives of Peru.)
ReplyDeleteOh, god, what a thought!
Delete