Scottish Book Trust has given over 290,000 books to children in need of support, living in deprived areas, through food banks, community hubs and other charities.

Obviously, that’s a huge and impressive amount. And I’ll ask you to hold that figure, 290,000 books, in your head for a moment. Because those books are more than just five minutes of an entertaining yarn, quiet or looking at lovely pictures for kids. They're more than a precious object that belongs to that child too.

I've heard books described as a mirror: something in which you can see and understand yourself in and understand your place in society, your experiences and feel a sense of belonging.

Likewise, books can be windows that allow us to look beyond our own surroundings and perceptions to experience challenges and triumphs of others who we might never encounter in our own life, feeding imagination, ambition and building one of those essential skills, empathy.

Read more from Kerry Hudson:

I would suggest books, as well as all of the above, are a ladder. They are most of all this for children on the poorest streets of Scotland, those........

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