Dear Fellow Rotarians,
Sadly, the project founder, PDG Colin Bryant, passed on in July of last year, but he would be pleased that the project has been continued by Enley Taylor, a member of Colin’s club, Battersea, Brixton & Clapham.
The dictionary project is now in its 21st year – thanks to the support of Rotarians throughout Rotary Great Britain and Ireland (and Canada!).
The project supplies illustrated dictionaries to Rotary Clubs to donate to local primary school children. To date, well over a million books have been donated to mainly year 6 primary school children as a personal aid to improve their literacy.
In 2025, orders totalling nearly 23 000 dictionaries were received from 115 clubs for delivery in July 2026.
The D4L project uses a bespoke edition of the Usborne illustrated Dictionary comprising 1000 illustrations, 10 000 entries and 20 000 definitions in full colour. It was freshly updated in 2025.
The price for clubs is £4 per copy – supplied in cartons of 8 books – including carriage (the book retails in online shops at around £11 per copy).
The book has a space for the child’s name on a flyleaf in a Rotary information panel, an autograph page for the child’s classmates and a space for a club name sticker.
Therefore, this project is not only a positive way to help your local primary school pupils, but also with your addition of a club sticker, a great way to promote your Rotary Club in your community.
Some clubs wish to order for schools overseas and the dictionaries can be delivered directly to an overseas address. However, as this will incur an additional charge, please contact us to discuss.
How and when to order
The production is in Dubai so there is need for a long lead time between order and delivery.
Order deadline is 15th December annually.
Dictionaries are delivered from Usborne, to your delivery address, in the first or second week of July, in time for pupils to receive them before leaving for ‘big school’.
A TEACHER, PARENT AND NOT A ROTARIAN?
If you would like your local school to benefit or get involved in the project please contact your local Rotary Club. Use the button to find you nearest Rotary Club.