Achi news desk-
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed that her school library didn’t have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
“I wanted more people to see girls playing sports, because people need girls to play sports so they can motivate themselves and see other people playing,” said Molly in an interview with CTV’s Mike Lamb. “So then they feel very excited to do something new.”
Molly said she was looking for books with lots of pictures.
“I’d like some people to donate books that have a lot of pictures of girls playing basketball because then other people will be like ‘wow that’s so cool, maybe I’ll be like them someday.'”
Molly’s mum Lucy said she would like to see more books available to young readers focusing on women in sport.
“I think women in sports are gaining momentum, there’s been a lot of attention recently with the PWHL and the March Madness in the US More women are playing more sports I think than ever and it’s not that has been reflected again in the books available. for young readers,” he said.
“I think it would be great if we could get more out there so that girls can see not just boys and men as people to inspire them to be like in the sporting world, and start to see themselves on the pages that too,” he adds.
“The school librarian said she’s up for it and she’s very excited,” said Molly.
“I was very proud of her, she is very determined and she likes to talk and talk about things she thinks are important and this is something she thought was important and it like to do things and make it happen. So she goes for it and we fully support that,” said Lucy.
Donations have already started coming in for the book drive.
“We’ve had a few people reach out to us already who have books there ready for us to pick up or are planning to donate. So that’s great,” said Lucy.
Molly said she was grateful to everyone who donated.
“I feel quite happy. I’m also very gracious to all the people who go along and help.”
Donations for Molly’s Book Drive can be made by contacting [email protected] by April 30.
