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18 Tulse Hill, London, UK

Media Pack / Portfolio

Lynsey Pollard

Founder/CEO
Little Box of Books
Lynsey has been a lot of things, a journalist, a TV producer on the first ever UK series of Big Brother, a TV director, an aid worker living in Congo and Haiti and Pakistan, head of communications for Great Ormond Street and Samaritans and more recently the founder of Little Box of Books. When Lynsey was a single Mum to her eldest son who is now 7 she looked for story books that reflected their family set up. They were very few and difficult to find. In her investigations she found children's books had changed very little in the 30 years since she'd last read them, with little representation across the board. Only 7% of books published in 2018, 2018, and 2019 had black, Asian or minority ethnic characters in them, despite 33% of UK schoolchildren being of black Asian or minority ethnic origins. She set up Little Box of Books to bring equality to children's bookshelves, to help children recognise and realise their potential and to teach children that everybody deserves to see themselves in stories. In 2020 Little Box of Books won the Mission Possible Award at the Small Business Awards, raised £57,000 with the help of Rochelle Humes and delivered 10,000 inclusive books to primary schools all over the UK. She has been named as one of the top female entrepreneurs making a social impact in 2021 on the #ialso list and is currently working to diversify the bookshelves of every school and nursery in the UK.

Media Coverage

The Times

‘Running a business is like guessing lottery numbers’

When reading children’s stories to her young son, Lynsey Pollard was struck by how “society has moved on, but children’s books haven’t”, with little depiction of single-parent families or indeed

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The Independent

9 best subscription boxes for kids: Give them a fun break from home learning

From crafts to baking, keep children entertained during lockdown with the best kids’ subscription boxes from KiwiCo, Mud & Bloom, The Bake Off Box and more

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ITV News

The mum who is tackling the lack of diversity of characters in children’s books | ITV News

As children dress up for World Book Day, the youngsters will inadvertently display a desperate lack of diversity in youth literature.

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the Guardian

The Christmas gift guide: 100 great buys for every budget

The shop starts here: from understated stocking fillers to the unapologetically over-the-top, get going with 100 hand-picked presents for every price, person and palate from Guardian Weekend’s editors...

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Channel 4 News

Minorities under-represented in literature, study finds

People from black and other ethnic minority backgrounds are still under-represented in most mainstream children’s books, according to a study by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education.

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HELLO!

Rochelle Humes supported by celebrity friends as she asks for help to crowdfund exciting new project

Rochelle Humes supported by celebrity friends as she asks for help

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YouTube

Lynsey on BBC Breakfast

It started with a Fearne Cotton tweet, then Lynsey was in Manchester with the opportunity to talk about inclusive and representative books.Only 4% of childre...

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The London Economic

‘Roadmap or not, I feel completely abandoned’ - small business owners slam Government

The London Economic | ‘Roadmap or not, I feel completely abandoned’ - small business owners slam Government | Business and Economics

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The Bookseller

Little Box Books: the subscription service for diverse kids titles | The Bookseller

A new subscription service for diverse and inclusive children’s books has launched in the UK.

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Metro.co.uk

Subscription company sends you books featuring ethnic minority characters

World Book Day highlights lack of representation in children’s books.

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