About Booked Up

Booked Up’s goal is to encourage reading for pleasure and independent choice. Year 7 students choose their free book from a list of specially selected titles.

Delivery

Booked Up is delivered through secondary schools. Every secondary school is offered a free Booked Up resource pack to enable each Year 7 student to choose the book that is right for them. In 2010 over 650,000 children in more than 5,000 schools received their free book.

Booked Up also works with alternative education providers, such as pupil referral units, hospital schools and educational support centres to ensure every eligible child receives their free book.

Background

Booked Up was launched in 2007, inspired by the Bookstart and Booktime programmes, which give free book packs to babies and reception-aged children respectively. During the first four years of the programme, Booked Up has given a free book to over 2.5 million children in England.

Booked Up is generously supported by children’s book publishers and funded by the Department for Education (DfE).

The programme is run by Booktrust, an independent charity dedicated to encouraging people of all ages and cultures to engage with books. Visit the About Booktrust section of this site or the Booktrust website to find out more about what we do.