Nurseries the length and breadth of Scotland will be able to claim up to £950k worth  of new books for free, in a major new literacy initiative launching this week (Monday October 28).

Following the success of last year’s Books for Schools campaign, The Scottish Sun and publisher HarperCollins have joined forces again to give away thousands of reading packs, each containing 40 books, to Scottish nurseries.

Every nursery in Scotland is being encouraged to take advantage of the offer by collecting tokens printed in The Scottish Sun and The Scottish Sun on Sunday from November 11 through to December 15, 2019.

More than 3,700 nurseries in Scotland are eligible to claim a pack of 40 books – selected from the HarperCollins range.

Featuring well-loved children’s authors and characters, the box contains everything from stories to delight and inspire, to the tools to support pre-school learning.

A dedicated ‘Free Books For Nurseries’ microsite will be populated with freely available downloadable worksheets and other educational support materials for nursery teachers.

Alan Muir, editor of The Scottish Sun, said: “There are millions of little universes in those pages just waiting to be explored by children. 

“And it’s our responsibility to fire those little imaginations and instil in them an early love of literature.

“I hope that this campaign, in partnership with HarperCollins, will go some way to help spark that love of reading at a very early age.

 “And, hopefully, it will stay with that child for the rest of their lives.”

Colin Hughes, managing director of Collins Learning, said: “We are delighted to be working with The Scottish Sun again to bring brilliant books to young readers. What better place to seed a love of reading than in nursery schools?  Our high hope is that every nursery in Scotland will take this incredible opportunity to fill up their book boxes for free.”