A partnership between local literacy organisation Read to Rise, book publishers Penguin Random House LLC and a local author has made it possible for around 200 Grade 7 learners to travel Africa through the pages of a book.
Authored by Riaan Manser on his travels through Africa on his bicycle, copies of My First African Adventure were handed over to learners of Northwood Primary School on Friday 27 May.
While Read to Rise traditionally focuses on foundation phase learners, project manager Roscoe Williams says when they were approached by the organisation with the prospect of donating the books, the content was analysed and a bit too advanced for the younger grades they serve.
“This is something we want to do on a continuous basis, with authors donating books,” says Williams.
“As many books as we can provide to kids, the better. We are not focused on higher grades but through this we can still provide books to the older children. We are welcoming any other authors or publishers to come on board and also donate books.”
Ena Stegmann, children’s marketer at Penguin, says they were excited to be part of the initiative.
