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Library card plan to help write newborns' first chapter
The Observer
|December 14, 2025
New mothers receive a modest bundle of gifts from the state, from nappy packs to the NHS “red book” in which to chart their baby’s health.
Now popular British authors including Philip Pullman, Richard Osman and Joanne Harris are lobbying for every newborn child to receive the gift of lifelong access to free literature. The adoption of a national library card scheme, they argue, would also be a significant lever of social reform.
This story is from the December 14, 2025 edition of The Observer.
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