A BUSINESSWOMAN and her young daughters are continuing to encourage reading in the community after another successful year of their self-organised book hunt.

Business owner Lizzy Bollington-Kinch, 42, started her Osbourne books business ‘A Tad Hooked On Books’ in 2021, where she sells her own short, illustrated stories – suitable for ages up to seven.

Lizzy bonded with her two daughters, Jessica, nine, and Hannah, six, during the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic by hiding books in the local area for other children to find.

She said: “To make the most of the sunny days we started hiding books around for other kids to find.

“It was great fun, and my girls loved to hang around and wait for their hidden treasures to be found.”

The family has continued hiding books for the community for the past three years, setting up the Braintree Book Hunt during the summer and Easter school holidays.

“We want to promote reading and make reading fun.” Lizzy said.

“I want to help get books directly into children’s hands.”

All books are hidden in a book pack, containing an Osbourne book, supplied by A Tad Hooked on Books, information on the hunt, an activity sheet, book mark, and leaflet about the business.

Businesses in and around Braintree donated money to support its Braintree Book Hunt.

“The books have been hidden around Braintree, Halstead and Great Dunmow, depending on where the businesses that supported us are," Lizzy said.

“For every £1 that is donated we will hide a book.

“They are hidden in places that we feel children will visit like the Discovery Centre, play parks, and around town.”

During this year’s school summer holidays, the family hid 150 books - allowing children to read them and later re-hide them.

“In the past three years, we’ve hidden over 1,000 books all sponsored by local businesses.” Lizzy said.

“Everyone who posts on our Facebook page with pictures of where they found the books is entered into a prize draw to win a £5 voucher to spend in my bookshop.

“We have built up quite a following and now children who have found books in the past like to volunteer to help us hide some books.

“This is as great as it gets, books in places we might not have thought of."

Lizzy and her daughters will be hosting another book hunt next year, during the school summer holidays, hoping to hide even more books.

She said: “I love arranging the book hunt, it is so lovely to receive feedback from parents and their children about the books they’ve found.

“My children get very excited when it’s ‘their’ book that has been found.

“It is so rewarding to be able to promote reading in this way and help with the ‘summer slide’ when children aren’t at school.

“The more sponsorship we get, the more books we can hide."

Lizzy hopes to start setting up a book hunt during the school Easter holidays next year.

For more information, visit the page Braintree, Halstead and Great Dunmow Book Hunt page on Facebook.