Asda is inviting shoppers to donate pre-loved children’s books to distribute them back into local communities as part of its new nationwide scheme.

The supermarket has partnered with literacy charity the Children’s Books Project, which enables customers to gift donations to families.

The new country-wide campaign follows a successful trial earlier this year in Asda stores across Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds and London, which saw over 6,000 books donated and redistributed.

The scheme will now run in over 388 Asda stores, where shoppers will have the opportunity to drop off any unwanted books in a dedicated donation trolley at the front of stores, hosted by the store’s Customer and Community Champion.

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Alongside its partnership with the charity, the supermarket giant expects to give 20,000 children the chance to participate in book gifting festivals hosted by their school or community group, aided by Asda’s donated books.

Asda local community adviser Carolyn Francis said: “It’s great to have an accessible book donation point in our store where we can then redistributed them back into our local community.

“All children should be able to access a book without the cost being a barrier. This is also a great opportunity for families to have a bit of a clear out and donate any books that their children may have grown out of which will then go on to benefit many other children in our area.”

The supermarket’s book donation initiative follows its recent launch of the Cashpot for Schools campaign, which aims to raise millions of pounds for primary schools through the Asda rewards loyalty programme. Last week, the grocer announced the campaign had hit £1.1m in just four days.