Putting Books into Every Child’s Hands: Malta’s National Literacy Agency Initiative

Since 2023, Malta’s National Literacy Agency has been implementing the Books Are Children’s Friends (Il-Kotba Ħbieb tat-Tfal) initiative, a nationwide programme designed to ensure that every primary school child owns high-quality, age-appropriate books in both Maltese and English. The initiative reflects a simple but powerful principle: access to books at home is essential for nurturing lifelong readers.

Each year, pupils receive carefully selected books that they can keep as part of their personal library. By placing books directly in children’s hands, the programme supports early literacy development, encourages reading for pleasure, and strengthens bilingual literacy in Malta’s two official languages.

To date, more than 27,000 children across state, church, and independent schools have benefited, with over 100,000 books distributed nationwide. In practice, this means that virtually every child attending primary school in Malta since 2023 has received books through the initiative, helping to ensure equitable access and encouraging reading beyond the classroom. For many children, these are among the first books they can call their own, and they constitute an important step in fostering motivation and a lasting connection with reading.

The programme forms part of Malta’s broader national literacy strategy, which recognises reading as a foundation for educational success, wellbeing, and active citizenship. By supporting children at a formative stage, the initiative contributes to building strong reading habits that extend beyond the classroom and into the home.

Following its positive impact, the initiative has recently been extended until 2030, reaffirming Malta’s long-term commitment to literacy.