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Aurella ran into her room after getting home from school and came to a sudden halt as she took in the amazing sight in front of her. "Oh my goodness!" she shrieked. "Who are these for?"
On the table were four large boxes piled on top of each other. The seven-year-old picked up one box, tottered under its weight, set it down on the floor, and tore off the wrapping. "Tracey Beaker!" she yelled, laughing, and holding up the Jacqueline Wilson book as if it were the crown jewels. She picked up the next couple. "Hello Kitty! My best book ever! Horrid Henry!" Her smile could not get any bigger.
For the next 45 minutes, the girl we wrote about as symbolising the "Argos Catalogue family", the one in three without a single book of their own except for shopping catalogues, opened box after box of books. She was barely able to contain herself.
There were more than 50 books in a bumper £500 hamper that included Winnie-the-Pooh, Pippi Longstocking, the complete Harry Potter collection, The Hobbit, Roald Dahl, CS Lewis, sticker books and children's encyclopedias. They provided this inspiring child - who came from Poland unable to speak a word of English and did not have a book of her own until today - with an instant library.
She stood back, surveyed the mountain of books that stood almost as tall as she did, and shook her head in disbelief. "I have never had so many presents," she said. "This is the best day of my life!"
"It's like all her Christmases come at once," laughed her 27-year-old mother, Anna Brzezowska, a single parent and hard-working cleaner earning the minimum wage.
"Who are the books from?" Aurella wanted to know, turning eagerly to the brief accompanying letter. "Hi Aurella," she began, reading aloud and with tremendous expression. "We saw the story about you in the Evening Standard last week and thought as you enjoy reading so much, we would like to give you these books as a gift from our shop. Best wishes, the Argos Book Team."
It was a poignant and symbolic moment: the "Argos catalogue kid" instantly transformed into the "Argos book kid".
Argos had been so shocked by the revelations published in the Standard that they wanted to help, their spokesman said. "We are excited to be part of your wonderful drive to improve literacy in London and to help put an end to what's been dubbed the bookless Argos Catalogue family," they said. Argos director Chris Wermann added: "Learning to read is absolutely critical to a child's development and potential, and it's a huge shame that every child does not get the opportunity to develop such a crucial life skill.
"We are delighted to present Aurella with £500 worth of children's books from our new online Argos Books range, and hope that she continues to enjoy and make good progress with her reading. We will explore how we can work together with the Standard to ensure Argos can become an enabler of literacy and how we can use the power of the Argos family to harness a change for good."
Argos also made a £5,000 cash donation to our campaign, bringing the total raised in one week to more than £80,000 - enough to fund 160 new reading volunteers who will transform the lives of more than 480 children.
Major donors so far include Google, Westfield, Tony Blair, Thomas Goode, Andreas Panayiotou, Vanessa Gounden and the Duchess of Cornwall, with the public weighing in with thousands of pounds as well.
All have been moved to give by the shocking illiteracy statistics - one in four children leaving primary school unable to read properly - and by the inspiring stories of children like Aurella who, for a variety of reasons, fell behind their classmates, only to make astonishing progress with the help of reading volunteers provided by our partner charity Volunteer Reading Help.
So far the public's response to our call for new volunteers to go into our poorest primary schools has been phenomenal, with 2,500 people calling VRH to apply, or simply downloading the volunteer application packs online via our dedicated website.
Young and old have been moved to back our campaign with hundreds writing to the paper every day. Megan Rice, 12, wrote to say: "I didn't realise that people in London at my age could not read or write properly.
I could understand if it was a third world country, but definitely not London. I have always been at a private school and I knew I was lucky, but never this lucky. We have 800 children in my school. I will ask my school if we can raise money to contribute to your efforts."
Back at her flat in Ealing, the first thing Aurella did was compose a letter in her best "joined-up writing" to Argos. "To Argos from Aurella," she wrote. "Thank you Argos and thank you for the books."
Her barely literate mother looked on admiringly. "Look, she write so fast," she said.
"I am not finished," Aurella insisted. She continued: "My favourite book was the Justin Bieber. Thank you a lot!"
She was about to sign and fold it when her mother said something in Polish and Aurella dissolved into peals of laughter. She quickly added: "Now we have to come to your shop because we have to buy a new shelf for the books. Yours, Aurella."
Aurella is proof that even children with severe disadvantages can become fluent readers if they get the right help.
Aurella's headteacher at Viking Primary, Sue Townson, described her as an "anxious child whose reading was three years behind her peers" until she was given one-to-one help twice a week, for 30 minutes a session, by VRH volunteer Zainab Reddy: "After nine months with Mrs Reddy, she is now confident and catching up to be only one year behind her class."
This week at school Aurella has been enjoying the attention of her classmates since being featured in the Standard. Aurella said: "The children bring in a copy of the newspaper and say, 'Can I have your autograph?' One of them didn't have a newspaper so I said, 'It's all right, I can sign blank paper.' Even my teacher, she ask me to sign autograph. She and Mrs Townson, they are proud of me. And I felt very proud of myself!"
"I can't remember when I saw Aurella this excited," said Anna. "This present from Argos make me feel people care about kids. A lot of people like me cannot afford books. This is dream come true. Now Aurella has choices.
I remember reading Pippi Longstocking when I was at school in Poland. They choose nice books for her age. Maybe I try read some myself."
As I got ready to leave, Aurella was weighing up what to read first. "It will be Justin Bieber," she declared, but she put it to one side and raced through the Hello Kitty series, reading aloud for my benefit. Then she reached for the hefty 512-page History of Britain, leafed through it, and said: "It will take me 100 years to read this!"
"I don't think I will be able to put Aurella to sleep tonight," said Anna. By now Aurella was skipping around the room in her pink Crocs. "We must put the books out, mum," she said. "Until the weekend. Then we go buy bookshelf - from Argos!"
Reader views (29)
What a comments...
OMG, Why are you people so so so against Poles????
I am proud of being Polish, I have got my own house(I didn,t get it from Council!!!!), I've got two cars, I can afford to go on holiday every year, and much more:)
I know that there are some Poles who want to come here and get benefits,council flats, etc.But NOT everyone is like that!!!! Some British don't go to work because they're too lazy!
Most of you/us have foreign roots, your parents/grandparents/great-grandparents came to this country to find better life.So why are you so angry???
Back to the subject.
I agree that the mother didn,t do her best to improve her daugther's English.This country gives the opportunities.All you have to do is search on the internet, go to libraries,etc.But being an immigrant is not simple, there is a lot of struggle with every day life, not knowing the language, not knowing the 'rules' of the country isn't helpful.
- eve, london, 16/06/2011 14:30
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Sorry I meant 50 books in my previous comments. My apologies .
- Martin, London, 15/06/2011 11:09
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To all of you my lovely British people, I really like you so much.
Pretty please do not give us (Poles) anything as we would wish to do not hear anything anymore about what we are taking from you. We have never forced you to give us things. We have never forced you to let us live with you in your country. We don't wanna be bother.I would be very happy to spent on books £500 from my own pocket and give them to any british charity or even send them to 500 poor families if somebody will give me the list of them. I'm very happy to do so just to stop you moaning about these 500 books and so. Thank you very much.
- Martin, London, 15/06/2011 11:03
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I can smell more troubles approaching Poles. Poor immigrant girl has been chosen by local company and has got 500 books from them and apparently or if not unfortunately she is Polish, one of these Polish nationals living in the UK being blamed for all bad things happening in the country. Now this little lovely story can bring more hate against Poles and I guess it will as usually after any Polish topic in the UK medias.
- Martin, London, 15/06/2011 10:36
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Thank you Argos. Now I will be hearing from English people not only stop stealing our jobs, benefits but stop stealing our books. Just wonderful! lol
Sorry for my English
Grateful Pole
- Iamspeechless, North, 14/06/2011 14:26
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Instead of over spoiling one immigrant child with 50 books they should have given one book to 49 other children from English poor homes as well. My Dad only had one book as a child and he not only treasured and remembered it but it led to life long reading through the public library system.
- Janet, London, UK, 14/06/2011 09:58
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but have you seen the PRICE of books? No wonder poorer families put them low on the list of priorities, I used to buy childrens' books at Waterstones but no longer. For us it's slightly dog eared books for 1p from Amazon, most of which are being thrown out by libraries up and down the country to make way for computers.
- Cathy, Worcs uk, 14/06/2011 09:35
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Its a great, heart-warming, feel-good story. I loved it.
It was disappointing, however, to read the disparaging messages from people who, like me, dont know the particular circumstances of Aurella and her mum, but still know all about what they should be doing.
It's a given that a rich home literary environment will help children become literate. But its not the essential. I posted elsewhere in this campaign comments the results of studies by George Georgiou, a University of Alberta professor, which showed that in languages such as Greek and Finnish, children coming from homes without that literary home environment can still pick up reading and riting skills reasonably quickly.
Those two languages, like many others using an alfabet, hav logical, regular, easy-to-learn spelling systems, unlike English.
The volunteers who teach remedial reading ar dealing with symptoms; the major cause is English spelling. Thats what needs to be dealt to.
- Allan, Christchurch, New Zealand, 14/06/2011 04:02
- Allan, Christchurch, New Zealand, 14/06/2011 05:15
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"Her barely literate mother" - I found this comment incredibly patronising when I read the paper on the train, particularly given that later on it is stated that she has read Pippi Longstocking in Polish. She can clearly read and write, just in a different language. A language which is grammatically far more challenging than English. I am also bilingual and was brought up by Polish immigrant parents who both worked hard and were both highly literate in Polish (but not in English). I picked up English at school in three months aged five and had excellent English literacy skills at Aurella's age. They were probably better as a child than now in the age of the internet and I did not have a privileged childhood by any means. The current literacy problems are the result of more than just poor teaching and lack of access to books. The internet and age of computing have made language users sloppy. It doesn't matter who your parents are. I used to regularly go to the library to borrow books and I still love reading. Libraries are now closing or understocked. Children have too many appealing alternatives to curling up with a book on a rainy day. A book is not considered the appropriate gift it once was. We are simply living in a different World now. It's great that Aurella now has some fantastic books to stimulate her imagination, but I am disappointed that she has been portrayed in such a way for this campaign. It is unfair to use a child in this way.
- A literate Pole, London, 13/06/2011 23:40
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Sorry but literacy has nothing to do with money. My parents absolutey scraped along in the 50s when I was born - but I could still read at age 5. My mother read to me every night when she came home from her work in a factory - old fashioned books like The Wind in the Willows, Little Women, Winnie the Pooh etc - books bought from second hand bookshops, and, of course borrowed from the libraries of which I was a member as a very small child and indeed all of my life since then. If people are illiterate in English its their own fault- books are all around us and are very accessible. And why are we giving books to Polish families in this country?
- panta, London UK, 13/06/2011 21:32
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Call me cynical and shoot me down in flames but they can't afford any books but can afford to buy a shelf at the weekend from surprise surprise Argos. What about libraries where you can borrow books for free and charity shops which sell loads of second hand kids books really cheaply? Parents have a role to play as well. Great of the Evening Standard to highlight the problem but why can't the Government work these things out for itself and put measures in place to remedy the problem? Great as well that Argos donated the books but why could they not have given them to a charity or organisation to distribute to several needy families/kids. Why did they need it splashed accross a double page spread. I wonder how much it would have cost them to pay for a double page advert in the newspaper, which gave them a philanthropic image?. It just seems tacky.
- azureuk, London, 13/06/2011 19:18
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Call me cynical and shoot me down in flames but they can afford to buy a bookshelf from surprise surprise Argos at the weekend but cannot afford to buy any books. What about borrowing books from libraries which is free and charity shops have hundreds of kids book that they sell really cheaply. Parents do have a role to play in all of this. I wonder how much it would have cost Argos for a double page advert in the Evening Standard? Great that the Evening Standard highlighted this problem but makes you wonder why the Government can't work these things out for itself. Great also to donate some books to a charity or organisation that can distribute them to the needy but why donate them to one girl and have it splashed accross a double page spread. Just looks tacky.
- azureuk, London, 13/06/2011 19:02
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I agree with KH. I think her mother is lazy, she probably thinks she'll learn to read + write at school. Unfortuantely there are a lot of mothers and fathers out there who aren't particularly interested in encouraging their children to read out-of-school books.
Probably more interested in buying them the latest DSi gadget.
- An Avenged Sevenfold fan, London, 13/06/2011 18:50
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"I expect the Polish children will grow up more educated and brighter then the average home grown kid. How many British kids speak a foreign language?"
- Prophet of doom, UK dustbin of Europe, 13/06/2011 17:18;
Hahaha! Yeah, let's herald immigrants for being able to speak their own language and for appropriately learning the language of their adopted home.
I'm pretty sure there are a few children of British ex-pats who can speak the language of their adopted countries too.
However, it doesn't automatically make them more intelligent than their contemporaries in their adopted country who aren't bilingual. It simply means they've had the opportunity and, more importantly, the necessity to become fluent in a second language.
- David, London, 13/06/2011 17:58
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Cynical Ol Git, The UK, 13/06/2011 12:18
Your dead right, English kids can probably just read the crisp packets they eat out of, or the bottles of coke. I expect the Polish children will grow up more educated and brighter then the average home grown kid. How many British kids speak a foreign language?
- Prophet of doom, UK dustbin of Europe, 13/06/2011 17:18
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What a wonderful picture! we probably all have books we could pass on, Health & Safety permitting...
- Martin, Teddington, 13/06/2011 17:13
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i am gobsmacked at this story, i really am. there were many ways that this child could have had access to books before now - from libraries , the school but what amazes me is that she is seven years old and has never received a book for her birthday or at xmas? I bet she has some expensive toys though. I am amazed because i am a single parent of a seven year old ( i also consider myself hardworking as i have a job), and my daugther has a reading age of 12 - you know why? because i actually have some interest in what she does at school all day and i also make time to listen to her read to me from the books she gets from school, oh and most importantly i made sure books were familiar to her from babyhood. Being an immigrant is a pretty lame excuse these days (mainly because children of immigrants do tend to do well at school) as i am the daughter of immigrants. I am glad the little girl has all these books now, but its up to her mother to make sure she reads them!!
- KH, London Uk, 13/06/2011 15:49
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My parents came through the rubble of WW2 with absolutely NOTHING, half-orphaned, yet still managed to learn to read and become productive members of society, and all without the help of Camilla, Google, or a London tabloid. It was poverty and deprivation on a scale unimaginable today yet they managed.
- EuroLND, London, 13/06/2011 15:31
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Methinks I'll come over to London, find a job as a cleaner, get a council flat, and take my son to Argos and say "he speak no English - any books left over?"
- Helen, from that debt-ridden country looking for a bail-out, 13/06/2011 14:56
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mppps I couldn't agree more!
I was one of 4 and my dad was a lorry driver so money was extremely tight. We were encouraged and taught to read by our parents at an early age (before starting school) and I remember regular visits to the library were keenly anticipated and the main source of my reading material. I don't recall owning anywhere near the amount of books my own sons had as they were growing up; perhaps just the odd book as a Birthday or Christimas present.
Sadly we're in a society where everyone is ultra materialistic and wants to own everything - whats wrong with libraries? I'm sorry to say it but poverty is no excuse for failing to read or failing to develop a love of reading.
- mg, Essex, 13/06/2011 14:00
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Now all Aurella has to do is learn to read.
- Joe Blow, Wales, 13/06/2011 13:05
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Why not use libraries if there is no money for books?
- mppps, essex, 13/06/2011 13:04
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"Access to books is I am sad to say a class issue". What a load of nonsense. No Waterstones next door? Go to Oxfam or any charity shop. In fact, don't go anywhere - go on Amazon? Still too expensive? Try bookpeople or red house books, then. Now, awareness of books may well be a class issue, Jack. Could it be that brick and mortart shops looked into some areas and realised that sales would not be worth opening a shop?
- Legal Immigrant, City of London, 13/06/2011 12:57
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Why doesn't the Standard focus on what the various governments have done to destroy what used to be the best state education in the world? It's all very well for Cameron to support this cause - but he's the one with the power to change things for the better on a permanent basis.
- Mark, London, 13/06/2011 12:42
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Edouardo, TLSE, France
To a dgree you were right in your first thought. Whilst I'm delighted at this little girl's good firtune, and loved the picture of her showing her happiness, my thoughts were this,..........isn't there any little girls with hard working mothers who are called Smith, Brown or Adamson etc?
I know exactly what UKIP and BNP will be saying.
Mind you, you could be right, most of the English kids I see around here, would probably use the books as kindling to set fire to some derelict building.
- Cynical Ol Git, The UK, 13/06/2011 12:18
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and the point of this is ? are Argos going to give £500 worth of books to every immigrant child in London ?
- Squiz, IslIngton, 13/06/2011 12:12
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Apparently you can't expect your target audience to go into a "real" bookshop, so why not give books away in fast-food takeaways? Or even better, get the takeaways to sponsor the books?
- John Bull, Londonistan, UK, 13/06/2011 11:48
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Access to books is I am sad to say a class issue. In places like Richmond or Wimbledon there are book shops but just down the road in Tooting, for example, the only books are a small selection in TK Maxx or the charity shops. For most children they are only going to come across books in the larger supermarket branches and we should be grateful to them for stocking them. Tooting library has just had a multi million pound face lift but the money seems to have been spent on the building rather than any new book stock. Disabled access for a few people means spending money on foreign equipment which is out of all proportion on its use. It would be cheaper to give disabled people as many free books as they wanted rather than change buildings to suit them for once inside the books are not there anyway!
- Jack Spratt, Richmond, Surrey, 13/06/2011 11:25
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I was going to say typical Polish...but when I read that Mum was a hardworking single parent I understood that it was a question of money.... at least the Poles understand that whist others can't undersatnd anything....
- Edouardo, TLSE, France, 13/06/2011 11:23
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