I spy with my little eye... thousands of books going for free
Thousands of free books are up for grabs in a bid to get people into reading.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic dinosaur novel The Lost World is being given away to help celebrate the 150th anniversary of the author's birth – and World Book Day today.
The Discover The Lost World project is run by Portsmouth library service and aims to celebrate Conan Doyle, who was a Southsea GP. The project also marks the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin.
With support from The News Spread The World campaign, the massive book giveaway includes 2,000 copies of The Lost World, 2,000 copies of a children's version of the novel, 2,000 copies of a graphic biography of Darwin and 2,000 copies of a guide to Doyle, Darwin and dinosaurs.
The free copies can be picked up from any of the city's nine libraries and from News offices in Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham and Havant.
The Lost World's most famous character is Professor Challenger, who came to the south coast to launch the initiative at the Spinnaker Tower.
Portsmouth's head of libraries, Lindy Elliott, said: 'This is an opportunity to give literacy a boost and have a shared reading experience where children and adults can discuss the same book. We want to celebrate Arthur Conan Doyle. He's more well known for Sherlock Holmes, but we wanted to show the other side of him and promote our Conan Doyle collection at the City Museum.'
Mark Waldron, editor of The News, said: 'This is terrific project which The News wholeheartedly supports.'
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Portsmouth
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 14 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South
