Vital that children do not base ambition on their background, says author

It is “vital” for youngsters to be taught that their ambitions should not be shaped by their background, the author of a children’s book has said. Esther Marshall, who has written Sophie Says I Can, I Will, has said that she was motivated to write the book after she noticed while reading to her son “that all of the books were heavily focused on male role models”.  She is currently trying to raise £10,000 to supply more than 2,000 copies of the book to vulnerable children and children of key workers and has raised over £6,000 so far. Marshall said: “I just think it is vital for young children to know from a young age that they can do what they want, it doesn’t matter about their background.” She added: “It doesn’t matter your gender, your race, your religion, your class, you can out there and do what you want to do. “That is why what we tried to do in the book is bring in all kinds of diversity so that any child can look up to any form of role model.”  She added that the characte ...

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