Books for the Whittington

Yesterday, I was delighted to hand over £500 worth of children's books to the Whittington Hospital's children's ward, Ifor. This is me with young patient Tom and play team member Abbi.

As part of my prize for being awarded Independent Booksellers' Best New Illustrator Award 2019, I was given £500 worth of books to donate to a library of my choice. Government cuts have had a massive impact on library services all over the UK, with many libraries forced to close. Schools are also crying out for libraries, so it was a hard decision to make. There are so many children who need more access to books!

To narrow it down, I decided to bring a personal angle to my choice. Having spent three months in hospital as a child, I know how books can really help with the ordeal of illness, pain, boredom and alienation from normal childhood that children undergoing treatment can experience. Books have a unique ability to distract, destress, fuel the imagination and take us all way from the challenges of our day to day lives.

Ifor Ward looks after 2,000 patients a year while its sister ambulatory ward looks after 4,000. It has a team of play workers who support the patients pastorally and who frequently use books therapeutically, for example whilst a child is having a blood test or similar.

I met some of the young patients today and am so glad they will now be able to enjoy the books kindly donated by publishers who are part of the Publishers Association.