Featherston Booktown vouchers help South Wairarapa kids to read

This year, for the first time, Featherston Booktown will make available $15 book vouchers to 2,500 school students in the South Wairarapa, including the years nine at ten at Kuranui College.

The book vouchers will be able to be redeemed at booksellers in the South Wairarapa towns and the visiting booksellers over the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival weekend on 7/8 May.

The book voucher scheme began in 2015 at the first Featherston Booktown Festival and was designed to give each child from the three Featherston schools an opportunity to choose a book and purchase it with their own “money”.

“We wanted to encourage our children to not just read but to love to read books of their choice,” says Peter Biggs, Chair of Featherston Booktown Board of Trustees.

“Ask any child who comes to Featherston Booktown what their favourite thing is and they will say ‘buying a book for me with my own money.’

“The book voucher scheme has been growing in popularity since we started and now, thanks to a South Wairarapa family who have donated generously to the Friends of Featherston Booktown, we are on our way to being able to include 2,500 students in the scheme this year. That’s students from Featherston, Kahutara, Pirinoa, Martinborough and Greytown – not just Featherston.

“In another first, the seven Featherston bookshops will be joined by the Martinborough Bookshop and the Greytown Village Bookshop as booksellers who will sell books in exchange for the book vouchers.  The vouchers can be used in local bookshops in the days leading up to and following the Festival weekend (Wednesday 4 May – 11 May).

“Donations to the Friends of Featherston Booktown pay for the book vouchers. “There’s still a way to go before we reach our funding target and I encourage anyone who wants to see our tamariki love reading to join up to the Friends so we can make this happen”,  Peter Biggs says.

“The suggested annual fee to join the Friends starts at $60 for an individual or $100 for a family, but people and businesses are most welcome to give more if they can.  There are many benefits in return including an invitation to the Festival programme launch, a chance to meet visiting writers and access to preferential early bird tickets.”

Further information can be found at www.booktown.nz