Marcus Rashford launches book club and publishing deal to promote education for children

Man United superstar Marcus Rashford has followed up his free school meals campaign by launching a book club that will help with educating children. The English forward has teamed up with Macmillan Children's Books (MCB) to provide children from lower socio-economic backgrounds the opportunity to embrace reading from an early age. Rashofrd also spoke about his own lack of access to books as a child and admitted that once he started reading, it changed his "mentality". 

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Marcus Rashford book club: First book to be released in 2021? 

On Tuesday, Marcus Rashford took to Twitter to reveal that his "dream" had come true. In a follow-up post, Rashford stated that he has teamed up with Macmillan Children's Books to help provide more children from underprivileged backgrounds the opportunity to read. The first book titled, "You Are A Champion: Unlock Your Potential, Find Your Voice And Be the Best You Can Be" is scheduled to release in May 2021.

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It is believed that each chapter of the book will begin with a story from Rashford’s personal life and cover topics such as the value of education, positive mentality, understanding culture as well as female role models. A post from MCB also read, "Rashford's book club will recommend titles that will champion the works of young, emerging writers and illustrators from all backgrounds." Reports claim that two more books of fiction for readers aged seven and above will release later in 2021 and 2022.

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Rashford admitted that when he was a child, his family needed to prioritise food over books, but with the partnership, he now plans to reach out to the “380,000 children across the UK that have never owned a book”. "I began reading only when I was 17 and it changed my outlook and mentality. I just wish I had the opportunity to read more at a younger age," he added. 

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Marcus Rashford free meals campaign

Rashford's partnership deal to launch a book club isn't the first time that the United star has grabbed headlines for the right reasons. Earlier this year, amid the pandemic, Rashford worked passionately to extend the government's free school meals campaign to function over the holidays until Easter 2021, instead of only during term time. 

Rashford had posted several messages on Twitter to express his disappointment at the government not providing meals for school children during the holidays and the decision was eventually overturned. In October 2020, Rashford created a petition for the UK Government to provide meals during all holidays for school children and for free school meals to be extended to households that have suffered financially due to the pandemic.

Image Credits - Marcus Rashford Instagram