“We have seen kids come back in and bring their parents or bring their friends during the summer”
A Northern Ireland bookstore has set out on a mission to ensure that all children can experience the magic of a visit to their bookstore, regardless of where they live.
Jenni Doherty, who runs Little Acorns Bookstore on Great James Street in Derry, has seen the impact of bringing kids into bookstores and does not want any child to be left out due to geography.
While World Book Day is still months away, Jenni hopes to raise enough funds to expand the circle of kids who can take a book home.
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She said: “The whole thing about World Book Day, booksellers buy the books in as gifts to give to the kids, and most schools would apply for book vouchers. It is the entire experience of the child coming in and selecting a book for themselves. This year I must have had 500 kids coming in over a couple of weeks.
“I learned a lot from them and it really warms your heart. The kids are so kind to each other and to me and so appreciative. When the kids come in they can go upstairs, we can talk about books for a while and they make their own choices on what book they want.”
Jenni said she was surprised at how many children were picking out a book of their own for the first time.
She said: “I asked them how many books they had and I was shocked at how many didn’t actually own a book of their own, their only access to books was through school.
“It is useful to talk to kids about libraries too and tell them they can borrow books for free from there as well. I found that a lot of kids didn’t get read to at night time either, for many different reasons. I think it’s important to host more kids events to get them into reading.”
While Jenni enjoyed hosting local kids, she realised that many were missing out because of not being able to afford to hire a bus to visit her bookstore.
She said: “Other schools who are further out and not within walking distance said they would love to come along but the difficulty is transport and schools having to hire buses out of their own funds.
“Reading should be freely available. Books should be, as much as possible, freely available as they are such an important part of a child’s development.
“World Book Day is not just about getting them into reading either, it is about getting them into a bookstore, allowing them to make their own choice and making this a place where they feel comfortable.
“The buzz we got from those couple of weeks was great and we have seen kids come back in and bring their parents or bring their friends during the summer, it is great. However, there are other schools missing out because of transportation issues.”
So, Jenni has taken matters into her own hands and started raising funds for more schools to visit her bookstore and broaden kids’ horizons.
She said: “I wanted to raise money for World Book Day 2026 for school buses to visit Little Acorns bookstore next year.
“We have had people donate already, we had a little girl of 3 years of age put in the pennies she had from her pocket money because she wanted her sister to be able to come here for World Book Day next year. I just thought it was so magical.
“I felt really inspired after the kids came in, they are so wise and so smart and it just made me think this is what it is all about. I had kids come up and give me a hug and say thank you for the book. Most of them had never been in a bookstore before.
“For next year I would love it for more schools to be able to come in and more kids to enjoy themselves and become more familiar with reading.”
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