Linda Vagana

Duffy Books in Homes

Duffy Books in Homes provides free books, three times a year, to over 100,000 New Zealand children in almost 530 lower-decile schools and more than 280 Early Childhood centres. Our vision is to break the cycle of booklessness in New Zealand by inspiring a love of books in Duffy children so they become adults who inspire a love of reading. Past research has shown improvements in reading scores of up to 35% for schools joining the programme. Current research shows that kids in ‘Duffy' schools show no signs of a drop in reading achievement over the Summer holidays – an issue which non Duffy schools have traditionally struggled with. We're most proud of becoming an integral part of so many schools' literacy programmes and giving children something of their own to treasure. As the original ‘Duffy kids' are now beginning to have children of their own one of our greatest reward is to see how they are passing on their love of reading to their own children.