About The Book Bus
The Book Bus foundation recognises the right of every child to gain enjoyment from, and to learn from, books and reading.
Who are we?
The Book Bus Foundation provides a mobile library service for children from remote communities and families in need in Africa.
Our aim is to share with children the pleasure and value that books can bring. In addition to story-telling, our crew of writers, artists and musicians will encourage the children to paint and to make music. By associating reading with enjoyment and creativity, we hope to sow the seeds of a life-long love of books.
The Book Bus Foundation is a UK Registered Charity.
About Tom Maschler, Founder of the Book Bus
Tom Maschler was a publisher for over four decades. While still in his twenties he ran Jonathan Cape, where he became, in the words of the Bookseller, "the most important publisher in Britain."
At Cape, Tom published no fewer than thirteen Nobel Prize winners. He nurtured the careers of many of the Twentieth Century's most esteemed authors, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ian McEwan, Doris Lessing, Joseph Heller, Roald Dahl, Bruce Chatwin, Philip Roth and Kurt Vonnegut. He also came up with the idea for the Booker Prize, now acknowledged as the most significant fiction prize in the world.
Tom has long had a love and fascination for children's books. One of his proudest achievements at Cape was to attract Roald Dahl to the publishing house. Tom was also responsible for pairing Dahl with his long-time collaborator, Quentin Blake, whose illustrations contributed so much to the author’s books.