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South Sound for Thurston and Mason Counties

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South Sound for Thurston and Mason Counties

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We offer talks and information about the importance of reading, literacy and brain development. Our Books for Babies and Born to Read programs distribute books and information to parents of infants. The READY! for Kindergarten program helps parents prepare their children for success in school.

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Reading Games, Activities, & Workshops | Children's Reading Foundation

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We offer talks and information about the importance of reading, literacy and brain development. Our Books for Babies and Born to Read programs distribute books and information to parents of infants. The READY! for Kindergarten program helps parents prepare their children for success in school.

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All of us at Kids Need to Read hope and pray that you and yours are keeping safe and doing well during this unusually challenging time. Please know we are thinking of our supporters, especially those who find themselves out of work, short on food, and those with loved ones who may be sick. May the strife of today improve quickly for us all.

Nonprofits are often needed most during times of crisis. Kids Need to Read is no exception. With school and library shutdowns widespread throughout the country, our staff has been working steadily to supply reading resources to children via free meal programs. We have traveled in The Page Coach to twenty-eight schools throughout Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe, Avondale, Peoria, and Surprise delivering Highlights magazines and puzzle books to be given to disadvantaged children when they pick up their meals. By doing this, we are providing food for the mind and helping to ensure children continue to read while isolating at home. We are also working to get these resources shipped to locations throughout the country.

This is a frightening and confusing time for youngsters. All of us at Kids Need to Read hope these resources will send a clear message to children that although they may feel isolated, there are people who are thinking of them and who continue to look out for them.

Keeping minds sharp during such a terribly long break from school is vital to prevent a backward slide in literacy and critical thinking skills. Staff and parents have been extremely grateful to receive KNTR's literary treasure. From Alex Macdonald, Principal of Edison Elementary School:

Thank you! Kids and families were so excited to get these today. You guys rock!

Partnering with one of our Page Coach funders, Phoenix Suns Charities, Kids Need to Read was able to provide 250 toys, which included stuffed "reading buddies" of Suns mascot The Gorilla, toy basketballs and t-shirts, for the children to receive along with their food at Mountain View School in Phoenix. This was in addition to over 2,600 books, Highlights magazines and puzzle books for 600 students picking up meals at the school! The principal told us the children had inquired, "Will we still get our books?" The answer was yes!

The principal and staff were beside themselves when we showed up with the surprise gifts from the Phoenix Suns. We received this email from ELL Testing Specialist Karen O'Keefe:

Thank you from the bottom of my heart... The Suns really need to be thanked a million times!!! I KNOW the kids will LOVE what they gave to us!!!

Later, we received this lovely thank you display from Mrs. O'Keefe, along with the following note:

I cannot thank you enough for EVERYTHING you have done for us. Please, please know that we appreciate it all-the books, the wonderful gifts, the packing and unpacking, the driving, the organizing!!!

We love the shout outs on the display board to Highlights for Children and Phoenix Suns for their generous contributions on behalf of the children. Many thanks to Mrs. O'Keefe and the dedicated staff at Mountain View who consistently and passionately promote literacy throughout the year!

This joint effort to spread some SUNShine among the children of Mountain View School was featured inthis article by the Phoenix Suns.

Kids Need to Read received wonderful photos of kids captivated by their new reading resources from Megan Walls, Assistant Principal of School Operations, Dean of Students, and Site Coordinator 21st Century ICARE at Imagine Schools Camelback in Phoenix:

Here are some photos from students that received the AMAZING puzzle books and magazines from Highlights.... Thank you so much, our school and students are LOVING the materials you gave us!

While delivering books, we spotted this sign hanging on a fence where families stop to pick up their children's free meals. Ensuring that children continue to read while isolating at home is of vital importance, and schools are doing their best to get the message across. Arizona schools will be closed for the remainder of the school year, as is likely for most of the country, so the need to get reading resources to children has become critical! You can help us get books out to agencies serving children throughout the country by donating shipping funds.

Does your school or organization need reading resources to help keep kids reading during the current school closures?Let us know!

Thanks so much toHighlights for Children -this project would not be possible without their immense generosity! The widespread appeal of their magazines and puzzle books makes it easy for staff to deliver reading materials without the need for children to gather to make choices. Thanks also to mega book donors GreaterGood.org and Capstone; as well as Page Coach funders Thunderbirds Charities, Cox Charities, Embraer Foundation, Employees Community Fund of Boeing AZ, Mesa United Way, Phoenix Suns Charities, Pi Beta Phi Foundation, Pi Beta Phi Phoenix Alumnae Club, and Pi Beta Phi Arizona Beta Chapter; and all KNTR supporters who make the magic happen!

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Providing Reading Resources to Children During Shutdowns

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This is a frightening and confusing time for youngsters. With school and library shutdowns widespread throughout the country, our staff has been working steadily to supply reading resources to children via free meal programs. All of us at Kids Need to Read hope these resources will send a clear message to children that although they may feel isolated, there are people who are thinking of them and who continue to look out for them.

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The Best 20 Minutes of Your Day

When you read together every day, you nurture a child's early learning skills.

Reading Skills = Success

One of the most important predictors of school success is reading proficiently by the end of third grade.

From the moment a child is born, every day matters to ensure they develop the literacy and learning skills required for success in school and life. Families, schools, communities, together we can raise a nation of readers and prepare every child for kindergarten.

For more than two decades, the research, advocacy, and early learning and literacy programs of The Children's Reading Foundation ® have vastly improved literacy and school readiness skills of children across the country and in Canada. The foundation's multifaceted approach engages families, caregivers, schools, and communities during children's vital early learning years of birth through third grade.

National, state and local partners strengthen our efforts by forming reading foundation chapters and providing our literacy and school readiness programs to help young children succeed.

Encourage and educate families about their important role in raising a reader and preparing their child for kindergarten.

Support schools in ensuring students read on grade level by the end of third grade.

Facilitate community involvement in helping young readers be successful.

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When you read together every day, you nurture a child's early learning skills. One of the most important predictors of school success is reading proficiently by the end of third grade. From the moment a child is born, every day matters to ensure they develop the literacy and learning skills required for success in school and life.

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Jennifer Martin said the nearest library is at least 15 miles away.

Jennifer Martin, an elementary-school reading teacher in Texas, has spent the past several years adding more than 1,500 books to her personal collection.

All of those books, and hundreds more that have been recently donated, are now available to children in Martin's neighborhood, thanks to a free library she opened in the garage of her home.

"It was a no-brainer," Martin told " Good Morning America" about opening a library in her home. "In order to create a lifelong reader, a student has to find the joy of reading."

Martin, a 20-year teaching veteran, has for the past three years taught in a school district outside of Austin, Texas, that draws in students from many, more remote neighborhoods.

Because of the school district's location, Martin said the public library closest to her elementary school is at least 15 miles away, and it's difficult for her students to access.

While the students can check out books from the school library, Martin said she also wanted them to have the experience of picking out and having access to books at a library they could visit during non-school hours.

So using books she has collected herself and in many cases paid for out of her own pocket, Martin opened her own library in the home she shares with her dad.

"The stars just aligned that I don't have children and I don't have a garage full of toys, so I have the space," she said. "And I live in a neighborhood where 40% to 50% of our [elementary school] kids live."

Martin, who would previously check out books herself from the Austin Public Library for her students to read, accumulated such a large collection of books by taking in old titles that the school no longer wanted, and by making nearly weekly visits to a store in Austin that sells surplus books for 50 cents apiece.

"When I discovered that, I would just go in and see so many titles that I knew my kids wanted," she said. "I don't need to go out to eat for fancy food. Instead, I can spend $20 and get dozens of books."

Martin's library operates on an honor system that allows children to check out two books at a time for any amount of time. When they have read those books, they may return them and get two more.

These days, the library requires masks and is following social distancing guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic. Martin said she is also following local guidelines when it comes to cleaning and sanitizing the books.

Martin said that even while adhering to social distancing, the library has been a way for her to connect with students and for students to connect with each other over books. The school district returned to school earlier this month through virtual learning.

"When they come, they get to see you and talk to you, and we're talking books," she said. "I saw a kid on Monday and he said he finished a book, which means he read on Saturday and Sunday, when I didn't tell him to read. He just really wanted to read the book."

Martin recalled another incident when a neighborhood kid drove by on a bicycle, asked her if her garage was really a library and then picked out a "Goosebumps" book he had always wanted to read.

She hopes more of those interactions happen inside her garage library so that students turn into lifelong readers.

"Reading is the crux of everything," she said. "It doesn't even matter what you're doing or what you're teaching if you haven't helped bridge the gap between a student and the world of literature, and access to books is the first way to do that."

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This teacher built a library in her garage when she realized her students didn't have close access to a public library

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Jennifer Martin said the nearest library is at least 15 miles away. Jennifer Martin, an elementary-school reading teacher in Texas, has spent the past several years adding more than 1,500 books to her personal collection.

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The COVID-19 pandemic forced many local libraries to close or limit hours.

Now, one local student teacher is on a mission to make sure students have the books they need.

"Our kids don't have access to our school library here. And I was thinking about where they would get their books from," said Nina Quasarano, student teacher at Woodland Park Academy.

That thought quickly turned into action. What was supposed to be a tiny home for Quasarano, is now a library on wheels.

"There was an issue created when we closed down and we're living through a pandemic. And kids weren't getting the books that they needed for a lot of people," said Jeremy Brown, principal of Woodland Park Academy.

Through the bookmobile, kids can read books for free.

"I wanted to find a way to provide books for the kids that wasn't going to cost anything for the teachers or take anything out of their own classroom library," Quasarano said.

There are more than 2,000 books for the kids in the book mobile for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Thousands of more donations have yet to be added.

"They can check out books. I'll take it out of the circulation. I'll put it in a bag for them," Quasarano said.

Students can either visit the book mobile or have their books delivered. It's a trip that's fueled by passion for the student teacher, but adds up to a pretty penny.

"I have a very small part-time job that I love," Quasarano said. "But at the end of the day, I am spending a lot more money than I am making at this point in my life."

She is hoping with the help of the community, she can keep the bookmobile going from home to home.

"The ultimate goal is to see that families learn to love reading, to share those moments together, to learn together, to explore together," Quasarano said.

A GoFundMe has been created to help with costs.
Copyright 2020 WNEM (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved. CLICK HERE to download the TV5 app.

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Woman creates bookmobile to bring reading to kids during pandemic

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The COVID-19 pandemic forced many local libraries to close or limit hours. Now, one local student teacher is on a mission to make sure students have the books they need. "Our kids don't have access to our school library here.

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When it comes to learning to read, educators agree: the younger, the better. Children can be exposed to books even before they can talk, but for that a family has to have books, which isn't always the case.

There are neighborhoods in this country with plenty of books; and then there are neighborhoods where books are harder to find. Almost 15 years ago, Susan Neuman, now a professor at New York University, focused on that discrepancy, in a study that looked at just how many books were available in Philadelphia's low-income neighborhoods. The results were startling.

"We found a total of 33 books for children in a community of 10,000 children. ... Thirty-three books in all of the neighborhood," she says. By comparison, there were 300 books per child in the city's affluent communities. Neuman recently updated her study. She hasn't yet released those findings but says not much has changed.

And according to Neuman, despite advances in technology, access to print books is still important because reading out loud creates an emotional link between parent and child.

"There's that immediate connection and that eye-to-eye joint attention," she says. "The parent is not looking at her cellphone or his cellphone; she is focusing on the child and the book. The second reason is the vocabulary that is contained in those books. Even very rudimentary, you know, beginning books, like board books, have vocabulary that tends to be outside the parent's normal, day-to-day interaction. So that child is learning words that he or she is likely not to see in any other place."
Getting Affordable Books To 'Anybody Serving Children'
Kyle Zimmer sits on a tiny chair surrounded by 4-year-olds at the National Children's Center in Washington, D.C. Zimmer is the president and CEO of First Book, an organization that has forged an innovative partnership with publishers to get books into the hands of kids who need them. Andrea Brunk, a physical therapist at the center, points to an array of picture books sitting on a couple of tables in the classroom.

"First Book brought a huge variety of books for our kids," Brunk says. "They're all age-appropriate; they're diverse characters. And all the kids are going to come up after they're read to and they get to take two books home apiece."

First Book began by setting up a book bank and distributing, at virtually no cost, unsold books that were returned to publishers and would otherwise be destroyed. It went on to create a children's book marketplace where it buys books from publishers in bulk at deeply reduced prices and sells them to a variety of nonprofit organizations. Zimmer says the books get sold to "virtually anybody serving children in need, from zero to 18 years of age. It can be a homeless shelter; it can be a formal classroom; it can be [an] abuse refuge; it can be really anyplace where kids are gathered."

According to Zimmer, publishers like the program because it has opened a previously untapped market. Traditionally, children's book publishers catered to a very few.

"On average, a premium picture book is about $18 at retail," she says. "And you imagine who the customer base is that can afford an $18 picture book for their family. What you're talking about is probably the upper 5 to maybe 10 percent of the socio-economic ladder."

And First Book's nonprofit partners like the program because they can buy so many books so cheaply - at about $2.85 apiece. According to Brunk, in the past the National Children's Center was grateful for any books that came its way; now First Book lets the center choose exactly what it needs.

She says, "We actually encourage people to actually just give us the donations, if they're OK with that, and let us do the picking because we can get them at such a reduced rate that their money goes further."
Empowering Parents To Make A Difference With Their Kids
Back in the classroom, the children are focused on their new books. Some sit quietly turning pages and looking at the pictures; some trade books with their friends; others gather around their teacher, listening to a story. Teacher Rose Campbell says that for the kids, the best thing about getting the books is that they can take them home.

"At home parents can actually read to them and they can also read to their parents," she says. "So if we're reading a book here with them they can go home and say to the parents, 'Hey, we read this in class today.' So they're really excited about that."

The National Children's Center has also set up a program for parents to encourage them to read to their children. Brunk says parents who attend a session will leave with a bundle of books.

"The parents kind of know now: OK, this is theirs and they didn't have to do anything to get this - they didn't have to go the store and spend $16 to buy a book or something like that. But it's a high-quality book and the child gets to keep it. They don't have to worry about taking back to the library, that type of thing. And now they have the tools to work with their child. And I think that's really - we've really tried to empower them and say, 'Hey, you have everything you need and you can do this and you can make this difference with your child long term.' "

One parent who has taken advantage of both the books and the program the center offers is Alisa Jackson Gray. She had four children of her own and is now raising her grandson along with a great-niece and great-nephew. Gray says she has always read to her kids, but a lot of families in her community are dealing with so many problems that it's hard to make reading a priority.

"Sometimes they don't even know where the next meal is going to come from," she says. But it helps to get free books from the center. "I was very happy and pleased to get my pack of books. And every night, my children and myself, we sit there and we read. ... I was very delighted to see my 1-year-old get the book and flip through the pages like she really can read. And she's pointing to the words and she's so impressed: 'Book?' [she says.] 'Yes, book!' "

Since 1992, First Book has gotten more than 100 million new books into the hands of kids from low-income homes. Zimmer says that providing books to those families and giving parents the support they need to read to their children can go a long way toward breaking the cycle of illiteracy.
This is the first report in a three-part series on early literacy.

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Nonprofit Fights Illiteracy By Getting Books To Kids Who Need Them

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When it comes to learning to read, educators agree: the younger, the better. Children can be exposed to books even before they can talk, but for that a family has to have books, which isn't always the case. There are neighborhoods in this country with plenty of books; and then there are neighborhoods where books are harder to find.

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EdSource story on a nonprofit giving books through Scholastic

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Credit: Carolyn Jones/EdSource

With her wide smile and eager expression, Oakland 3rd-grader Weiying Wu looked a bit like a princess herself earlier this week as she pored over her new book titled "Real Princess Diaries," thanks to a multistate effort to get books into the hands of low-income children who come from homes where books are often in short supply.

In an age when older children, especially, are drifting away from reading the old-fashioned way, Weiying is carrying on a time-honored practice of reading an actual book. In this case, the book is not one that belongs to the school to be read as part of a class exercise or assignment, but rather to take home and read on her own.

"I wanted to learn about the different kinds of princesses," she said, showing pages about Marie Antoinette, Queen Victoria and Princess Diana. "I like having my own books because sometimes when you borrow books you have to return them before you're finished. I like to read books again and again."

She got the book that day when representatives of Book Trust, a nonprofit Denver-based organization working with districts in 18 states, including four in California, came to Bella Vista Elementary to hand out books about 300 students had selected from the Scholastic book catalog. In addition to Oakland, the other California districts are San Jose Unified, Ravenswood City and Redwood City, all south of San Francisco.

Children in participating districts in kindergarten through 3rd grade, and sometimes in 4th and 5th grade, get to pick out $7 worth of Scholastic books monthly. Book Trust, which is funded by private foundations and individual donations, and the school districts share the costs.

Book Trust Executive Director Amy Friedman said her organization is helping to raise reading levels by purchasing books that children have chosen themselves, and which they can keep. "For us, it's an equity issue," she said. "And it's the choice piece that's key. If kids are given books they pick out, which they actually want to read, they're more likely to become regular readers."

According to reports from 2,400 teachers who participate in the Book Trust program, the proportion of students reading at grade level increased from an average of 31 percent at the beginning of the school year to 59 percent by the end of the school year after receiving free books through Book Trust.

Sue Schooling, Weiying's teacher, said her students have made a significant leap in reading skills since the beginning of the school year when the Book Trust program started.

"There's an excitement when the catalog comes, when the books arrive," said Schooling, who has been a teacher for 28 years. "The kids get to know new authors. They even go to the library and ask for the authors they like."

She said that many children in her classroom come from families that don't have a lot of books around the house or spend much time reading - factors that can contribute to low-income children having lower reading scores than their middle- or high-income peers, according to the National Education Association.

Schooling said most of her students were reading well below their grade level at the beginning of the school year, but now most have achieved the literacy benchmark and several have surpassed it. The benchmark is based on district standards for 3rd graders - how many words per minute they can read and how well they understand the content. She credits the gains at least in part to the boost students received through Book Trust.

To further encourage her students, Schooling bought them each a cardboard book box from Ikea so they can set up their own libraries at home and their books don't end up under the bed or lost, she said.

"A lot of my kids have parents who don't speak English at home, or don't have books at home at all, so being able to let the kids pick their own books, build their own libraries, is just huge," she said.

Book Trust focuses its efforts on low-income children because that is where putting a book in the hands of a child is likely to have the biggest impact. Rhianna Casesa, assistant professor of literacy at Sonoma State University, said how well children read is strongly associated with their socioeconomic background.

"Reading is not a priority if you're focused on feeding your family or busy working multiple jobs," she said. "And some immigrants are unwilling to get library cards out of fear. So for kids just learning to read, that can be a barrier."

Allowing children to choose their own books is crucial, she said. They can pick books at their own reading levels, on subjects they find interesting, and then keep the books to re-read or swap with friends. Sometimes teachers or parents will encourage children to read books that are too advanced or not on topics the kids enjoy, and over time that can turn kids off to reading, she said.

Books that are culturally relevant are also important, she said.

Another key aspect of the Book Trust program is that teachers give students time in class to read their new books. For children who have big families, live in small homes or have responsibilities outside school, quiet time to read can be a luxury, Friedman said.

"Reading is like riding a bike. The more you practice, the better you get," she said. "That's why time spent reading in the classroom is so important. Kids might not have any other place to do it."

Cynthia Greenleaf, co-director of the WestEd Strategic Literacy Initiative, which conducts research and professional development on literacy, agreed.

"Students need well-stocked classrooms and school libraries and time in school to read, to make up for time they miss outside of school," she wrote in an email. "And when philanthropic organizations support book giveaways, sponsor book clubs, and provide spaces outside of school for students to gather to read and write about their interests, students gain enthusiasm and make progress in literacy."

Studies are mixed on whether kids generally are reading less than they used to. A 2016 Scholastic survey of 2,718 parents and children found that the rate at which kids read for fun has remained steady since 2010: 58 percent of children ages 6 to 17 say they enjoy reading for fun, compared with 60 percent in 2010. But the survey shows a decline in kids' reading as they become teenagers. Sixty-five percent of 6- to 8-year-olds say they enjoy reading, while only 54 percent of 15- to 17-year-olds do.

But research by Common Sense Media in 2014 found that 45 percent of 17-year-olds read books for fun only once or twice a year, in part due to distractions such as video games and social media. By contrast, in 1984, 64 percent of 17-year-olds said they read books for fun once a week or more.

Nonetheless, sales of children's and young-adult books remain strong, according to the Association of American Publishers. In 2015, books (including e-books) aimed at readers ages 18 and under were a $4.27 billion business. Harry Potter books still sell millions of copies annually.

But the key, say Book Trust representatives, is to make sure that all children, including those from low-income backgrounds, have a chance to read at a young age as a fun activity, not just as a class exercise. Bella Vista Elementary 3rd-grader Josephine Baker said she keeps the books she gets courtesy of the Book Trust program in her library at home so she can re-read them - especially her favorite, "Ghosts" by Raina Telgemeier - and then give them to her little sister.

"When I'm done with them, and my sister is done with them, I want to donate them," she said. "I think everyone should have a home library."
To get more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource's no-cost daily email on latest developments in education.

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A push to get books, not tech, into the hands of young readers

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Credit: Carolyn Jones/EdSource With her wide smile and eager expression, Oakland 3rd-grader Weiying Wu looked a bit like a princess herself earlier this week as she pored over her new book titled "Real Princess Diaries," thanks to a multistate effort to get books into the hands of low-income children who come from homes where books are often in short supply.

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NY Times article on how nonprofit provides free books

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Remote learning is particularly challenging for low-income children. The nonprofit First Book is aiming to keep them on track.

Tamara Ortiz of Win at a Brooklyn shelter where books were organized for distribution to children this week. Credit... Stephen Speranza for The New York Times

Like many students who have shifted to remote learning, Leslie Novoa's three children are jumping on Zoom calls and missing their classmates.

"We try to keep them entertained as much as possible," Ms. Novoa said. "They want to go back to school more than anything."

Ms. Novoa and her family live in a shelter in Brooklyn run by the nonprofit organization Win, a major provider of shelter for homeless families in New York. On Tuesday, her little ones heard some good news: Win was distributing free books to the children in the facility.

"They were excited," Ms. Novoa said. Her two oldest children love reading, and her toddler often grabs books and pretends to read, though she's not quite there yet.

The books came from First Book, a nonprofit that provides free and inexpensive books and learning materials to children in need. To help organizations like First Book as they assist some of those most impacted by the coronavirus, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund has started a Covid-19 Relief Campaign. This monthlong campaign will benefit First Book and three other agencies offering support to those affected by the outbreak.

Ms. Novoa's eldest daughter, who is 7, chose the picture book "Drawn Together." Her 5-year-old son picked a book about the Marvel character Black Panther. And her youngest, a daughter who is 3, chose one with shapes and Disney characters on the cover.

First Book has about 475,000 members in its network, including schools in low-income communities, early childhood programs and libraries. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, many of the organization's members said they needed books to send home to their students to help prevent them from falling behind.

It's common for children to forget lessons when school is out, usually called "summer slide." In places where schools will now stay closed for the rest of the academic year, low-income students are facing the prospect of a severe "summer slide," said Kyle Zimmer, the president and chief executive of First Book, partly because they don't have computers at home to keep them up to speed and won't be able to reach libraries.

"What is challenging for people of means is a crisis for people who don't have those resources," Ms. Zimmer said.

In an effort to keep children engaged, First Book hopes to distribute about eight million free books - all of which have been donated by publishers - to its network of educators. It has already sent out about 1.7 million books to distribution hubs such as emergency feeding sites and homeless shelters.

After New York City's public schools began remote learning in March, Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, wondered how Win was addressing the digital divide, as most of the city's shelters do not have Wi-Fi access.

"It's been a real struggle," said Christine C. Quinn, the president and chief executive of Win.

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Christine C. Quinn, left, the president and chief executive of Win, with Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, before books were distributed at a Brooklyn shelter. Credit... Stephen Speranza for the New York Times

The Department of Education announced it would send devices with built-in internet to students in transitional housing. But the students in Win's shelters did not receive them until more than a week after remote learning had started, Ms. Quinn said.

"The crisis has just exasperated and exposed every inequality" in the country, Ms. Weingarten said.

To help ensure homeless students continue learning, the American Federation of Teachers offered to buy more than 10,000 books and other materials, like pencils and bookmarks, from First Book and distribute them to about 2,500 children in Win's shelters. The books, which First Book provides at a discount, will help keep the students' reading skills up to par, and will also help ease anxiety during the lockdown, Ms. Quinn said.

"If anybody has cabin fever, it's our children," she added. "This is going to make a big difference."

The need for books is widespread.

Katy Burkett teaches the first grade at Wa He Lut Indian School in Olympia, Wash., a public school that serves Native American students. Most of them live in poverty, and many don't have food at home, let alone educational supplies, Ms. Burkett said.

The school shut down in March and will remain closed for the rest of the academic year.

A plan to send laptops and portable hot spots to students is in the works. In the meantime, the school's staff members have been delivering paper packets to students' homes. But Ms. Burkett sees a grave threat to her students' education.

"They're going to need access to technology, to books, to basic resources like pencils, paper, erasers, crayons," Ms. Burkett said. "Every parent that I've talked to is concerned."

First Book was able to relieve some of that burden. The organization gave the school $750, enough to purchase class sets of books for its roughly 130 students. Ms. Burkett said they always look forward to having books of their own.

"Anytime I give the students books, they freak out," she said. "You'd think that they were getting toys."

Before the donation came in, Ms. Burkett had purchased books from the organization to send to her students' younger siblings who are missing out on early learning programs. She did not want them to go without an education, she said, so she paid for the books out of her own pocket.

Ms. Burkett is one of scores of teachers who have been stepping up during school closures.

Jennifer Walker is a media specialist at Ingleside Elementary in Athens, Tenn., which has a poverty rate of nearly 30 percent. Many of the school's students don't have devices at home conducive to virtual learning, Ms. Walker said. So she and others in her community have collected and distributed about 2,500 books to more than 1,000 children in the school district.

"The kids loved it," she said. "It's really made them smile."

A few weeks ago, Ms. Walker reached out to First Book for help and was also given $750. She bought about 1,400 reduced-price books from the organization, mainly titles she knows the students will enjoy, like graphic novels and tales about superheros.

Remote learning means children are missing out on the daily connections they form with their teachers, Ms. Walker said. Handing out books is an opportunity for educators to show their students they still care for them.

Ms. Zimmer echoed that notion.

While First Book can't distribute teachers, she said, "we can distribute that comfort, that little bit of support."

Donations to The Neediest Cases Fund's special Covid-19 fund were collected from April 1 to May 5, 2020. To donate to our annual campaign, see our page at GoFundMe.

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With Schools Closed, Bringing Books to Students in Need

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Remote learning is particularly challenging for low-income children. The nonprofit First Book is aiming to keep them on track. Like many students who have shifted to remote learning, Leslie Novoa's three children are jumping on Zoom calls and missing their classmates. "We try to keep them entertained as much as possible," Ms. Novoa said.

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Rural libraries turning more to private sector for lifeline

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A fundamental public institution diversifies to survive.

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The secret world of membership libraries

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Before Andrew Carnegie, most libraries in America were subscription-based. As free public libraries sprouted up across the United States, membership libraries mostly died off, but 19 non-profit membership libraries still exist.

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At the 2020 Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) Conference-held virtually September 28-October 2, with more than 2,100 participants from all 50 states-a thread quickly emerged: Rural libraries play an important role in the social fabric of their towns.

The event opened with a meme-filled presentation from author and librarian William Ottens ( Librarian Tales: Funny, Strange, and Inspiring Dispatches from the Stacks) and closed with a keynote from renowned librarian and literary critic Nancy Pearl ( The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives, with Jeff Schwager). The sessions between the speakers highlighted how small libraries engage and enrich their communities.

Staying active and accessible

At "How to Host Play Streets at the Library," presenters Noah Lenstra (assistant professor of library and information science at University of North Carolina at Greensboro) and M. Renée Umstattd Meyer (associate professor of public health at Baylor University in Waco, Texas) introduced Play Streets, a program that has connected people in rural communities.

Play Streets involves the temporary closure of roads to create safe, publicly accessible spaces for active play, said Lenstra. The program engages kids and families, is affordable, and can be easily added to existing events such as summer reading. With safety measures in place, he added, the program can be held even during the pandemic.

Meyer, who has been researching Play Streets for the past three years, shared tips for selecting a location and managing risks, as well as advice for staffing and marketing the event. She is coauthor of The Guide to Implementing Play Streets in Rural Communities, which is available as a free download.

A role in social well-being

In "Pathways to Community Well-Being," directors from small and rural libraries in Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, New York, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin shared highlights of their involvement with the Rural Library Service and Social Well-Being project.

This three-year nationwide, IMLS-funded research, resource, and education initiative is investigating the question: Are libraries a component of social well-being in resource-poor areas? To find out, in 2019 project researchers convened conversations with more than 200 people in eight remote towns across the US about how their local public libraries have enriched their lives.

Richard Styre, codirector of Elk River (Idaho) Public Library District, was surprised by the study's results. "I was not aware of how much the people in my community appreciated the things that we did at the library," he said. "The research really opened my eyes to that."

Emilie Braunel, director of Plum Lake Public Library in Sayner, Wisconsin, added: "Something that resonated from the data was the sense of home and community well-being-and how it is closely tied to pride, a specific community feel, and a sense of positive shared identity."

Each panelist created resources-typically public-facing documents or worksheets-based on the project's findings and field data from their own communities. Braunel, for instance, made a tool that connects patrons with local natural spaces to encourage reflection, maximize mental and physical health, and promote a shared sense of place. Styre created a guide to empower youth to build competencies in maintenance skills such as bike and auto care and carpentry.

Chelsea Price, director of Meservey (Iowa) Public Library, chose to focus on staff: Her resource assesses burnout and encourages self-care among rural library employees. These tools will be available to the public in early 2021 at rurallibraries.org.

Celebrating local stories

During "Capturing Your Community," Joan K. Weaver, director of Kinsley (Kans.) Public Library, explained how she was inspired by the personal stories, past and present, of her small town. These stories led her to create new library programming around the area's people, buildings, events, festivals, history, and culture.

Her favorite projects have included a digital map of the community's downtown that reveals historical pictures and stories when a user highlights a particular building; an architectural bus tour of Kinsley hosted by a local architect and transcribed for use in self-guided tours; and an "apron reception" in which heirloom aprons from community members hung from clotheslines inside the library.

Most recently, with social distancing guidelines in place, Weaver has shared stories of her community through a column in the local newspaper and rotating storywalk exhibits outside of the library.

"None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something," she said. "Choose what will mean the most to the community you serve, and take the first step."

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Rural Libraries and Community Well-Being | American Libraries Magazine

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At the 2020 Association for Rural and Small Libraries (ARSL) Conference-held virtually September 28-October 2, with more than 2,100 participants from all 50 states-a thread quickly emerged: Rural libraries play an important role in the social fabric of their towns.

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Research project on public libraries in small rural towns

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Our Story

More than 16,000 public library facilities can be found across the country, in towns and neighborhoods of all sizes-testaments to the power of collective action and togetherness. Libraries are a trick so astonishing that lifelong users still express a sense of wonder and delight in them. Well known is how the work of librarians unlocks cooperative resource sharing potential; still underappreciated is how the social connection role they play unlocks broader security and support dynamics that impact broadly on wellbeing. The way they do this is long term and tailored to both the people and the place. We describe it as pathways to wellbeing.

The Rural Library and Social Wellbeing project looked specifically at independent public libraries in the nation's smallest and most isolated communities: towns without formal education facilities or hospitals and with fewer than 2,500 people. During our study period (2018-2021), we visited eight of these places for in-depth interviews with community residents, as well as library trustees and staff.

You will find here the story of this research told through:

We found that feelings of belonging factored strongly in people's notions of living in their ideal community and that core to that valuation were feelings of self-determination and mutual support. Public libraries in these communities functioned as the organizing center and trailhead to pathways of belonging, power, and connection for residents, regardless of their status as newcomer, long-time outsider, or well-networked social butterfly.

Where directors and managers were authentic, generous, resourceful, and power sharing, the libraries were the most active and the communities the most thriving. When the public library is the only community anchor in town and the director is the only staff person at the library, this individual and the institution they create hold powerful sway over the culture and feel of the community as a whole.

This is a love letter to rural places: from the dew on ferns and forest cloisters, to the sun dried adobe and the sharp green of corn leaves. And it is to the people who inhabit them, with a dedication to the land they are on, to hard histories, optimistic futures, and the networks of dynamic reciprocity that makes living an hour from the nearest emergency room feel reasonable and safe.

And to the people who choose to work in our smallest libraries and bookmobiles. We know you are tired of the communities you serve being described only in terms of poverty, lack of resources, and distance from more cities. We know that you offer the books people love, and also the chat, the browse, the feel of care that comes with personalized service.

Your work matters. Libraries of all sizes can learn from some of the impactful practices we witnessed in these places which exist in the library profession's margins.

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Rural Library & Social Wellbeing Project Overview

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More than 16,000 public library facilities can be found across the country, in towns and neighborhoods of all sizes-testaments to the power of collective action and togetherness. Libraries are a trick so astonishing that lifelong users still express a sense of wonder and delight in them.

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by United for Libraries

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Nonprofit providing books & reading events for low income kids

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For the past century, libraries have focused on reaching the youngest members of the communities they serve-children. Starting in the late 1910s, the idea of developing library spaces in schools became a focus for educators, coinciding with a rise in literacy rates among young people. The movement for children's libraries grew from libraries in schools to dedicated children's materials at public libraries or new libraries especially for children.

Children's librarians began organizing a professional community of practice with the Section for Library Work with Children organized in 1901 (later, the Children's Library Association) and the Young People's Reading Round Table, which met for the first time in 1930. These groups later merged with the American Association of School Librarians to form the American Library Association's Division for Children and Young People in 1941. As the ALA restructured, the children's focused group changed names, eventually organizing as the Association for Library Service to Children in 1977.

Providing resources for kids was more than just a professional focus, but a programmatic one, too. Libraries have integrated things like reading programs, story hours, and stocking books on local schools' summer reading lists. While some early children's reading rooms, particularly in urban areas, were seen as a source of shelter and structure for young people, with a regimented order similar to a schoolhouse, later spaces were designed to be more creative and relaxed. At the center of these new designs and programs was public librarians' understanding that they played an important part in helping children access and appreciate reading and learning.

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For the past century, libraries have focused on reaching the youngest members of the communities they serve-children. Starting in the late 1910s, the idea of developing library spaces in schools became a focus for educators, coinciding with a rise in literacy rates among young people.

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Need for a Town Library - Adobe cloud storage

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The bookmobile's design is such that once parked, readers could easily access its treasured literary items. Now it's more like a thing of the past, but back in the day, this way of distributing literature to people functioned perfectly.

It was working exceptionally well in remote areas such as villages or suburbia - places that otherwise did not have an access to a nearby library.

Bookmobiles saw their heyday in the mid-twentieth century, however, their story begins most likely somewhere in the late 19th century. In 1857, an English periodical dedicated to the industrial classes, entitled as " The British Workman " had reported about a perambulating library that operated in the circuit of eight villages in Cumbria, in the northwest of England. According to the news story, it was a Victorian merchant and philanthropist, George Moore, who had launched an action to "diffuse good literature among the rural population."

On the other side of the ocean, one of the first bookmobile operating were reported in Fairfax County, Virginia, as early as 1890. The bookmobile services had started out in the northwestern part of the county, but a county-wide service followed only a few decades later, in 1940. The county-wide action was initially helped by a truck loaned by the Work Progress Administration (WPA).

An early bookmobile in the States is further reported in 1904 by the People's Free Library of Chester County, South Carolina. This one served to rural areas and had a mule-drawn wagon that carried wooden boxes of books. Worth to mention, in those days, the bookmobiles were known as book wagons.

One more early American bookmobile was initiated by Mary Lemist Titcomb (1857 - 1932), a librarian who worked at the Washington County Maryland Free Library. Allegedly, Titcomb started out the bookmobile services after expressing personal concerns that the library did not have a satisfactory reach to all the people possible. Thanks to Titcomb's efforts, by 1905, the Washington library topped the list of first institutions that provided American book wagons to its citizens. The vehicle even took books straight to the homes in the most remote parts of the country.

Sarah Byrd Askew was a pioneering public librarian who was also among the first initiators of the bookmobile. Reportedly, she personally drove a Ford Model T packed with books to rural areas in New Jersey, as early as 1920. Then in 1923, it was the Hennepin County Public Library of Minneapolis that followed with bookmobile services. Services in Kentucky and nearby Appalachia that dealt with bringing books to those unable to make it to the library were reported in both the 1930s and the 1940s.

However, the real boom for bookmobiles was most likely throughout the 1950s. Thanks to the Library Services Act of 1965, the bookmobile services rapidly spread and reportedly reached more than 30 million people across diverse rural communities.

An additional legislation of the 1960s that provided more government funding, renewed the popularity of bookmobiles. For example, the "Library in Action" was a late 1960s Bronx program that aimed to supply books to youths in underserved neighborhoods. The rising fuel costs and budget cutbacks that followed in the proceeding decades, unfortunately, pushed libraries to scale back the bookmobile services.
Read another story from us: Bookworm pays $1550 late fees for library books taken out in the 1970s
As of more recent times, there has been a 20 percent decline reported in bookmobiles in the years between 1990 and 2003. Nevertheless, the digital revolution of the 21st century and the availability of many books online just may be a good reason why bookmobiles are now thing of the past. Despite that, at current, some bookmobiles still function well, especially in developing parts of the world, fulfilling their initial purpose - to bring the books to some of the most remote places around.

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Fascinating photos of American Bookmobiles in the past ...

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The bookmobile's design is such that once parked, readers could easily access its treasured literary items. Now it's more like a thing of the past, but back in the day, this way of distributing literature to people functioned perfectly.

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Beverly Cleary Children's PNW Librarian writing to interest kids in reading

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Beverly Cleary Children's PNW Librarian writing to interest kids in reading

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Yakima Herald

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It Happened Here: Yakima kids were inspiration for Beverly Cleary's children's literature

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For more than half a century, Beverly Cleary has been many a child's introduction to the world of literature. Henry Huggins, Ribsy the skinny dog, Beezus, Ramona and the other denizens of Klickitat Street, as well as a motorcycle-riding mouse named Ralph, have entertained countless children, and cemented Cleary's reputation as one of the greatest children's authors.

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Taking those important first steps toward raising a reader doesn't have to be a challenge. Below are some answers to commonly asked questions to help you set the stage for your newborn's lifetime of literacy:

How do babies use books?
Babies love to observe. Every time you read to your baby, you reinforce basic reading concepts, such as turning pages and following text from left to right. As you read a book together, point to the pictures, name them, and talk about them. As your infant grows, he will imitate you by turning pages or pointing to objects.

Babies also like to be held and spoken to. And books provide the perfect opportunity for them to learn about speech patterns and how to make sounds

How can I be sure that my baby enjoys reading?
Books provide vital one-on-one time for you and your infant. Through the sound of your voice and the warmth of your body, your baby will come to think of reading as a pleasurable activity.

What kind of book is best for infants?
Newborns see things best from about a foot away - or the distance from your face to your baby's while you're holding him. So it's best to select books with high-contrast images. Black-and-white illustrations and patterns (stripes, polka dots, checkers) provide plenty of entertainment for infants of this age.

To stimulate older babies, look for books that require some manual dexterity. Lift-the-flap books, touch-and-feel books, and chunky board books sized for little hands are both fun and challenging.

Most babies do not have the attention span required for lengthy picture books, so stick to simple text and rhymes accompanied by vivid pictures. Also, sturdy construction is important - you want books that will last!

Remember that while babies aren't born book lovers, they are born learners. And the more you read to them, the more they learn. They learn to love the feel of the pages in their hands (or their mouth), the sound of your voice, the beauty of the illustrations - the joy of a good book.

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Taking those important first steps toward raising a reader doesn't have to be a challenge. Below are some answers to commonly asked questions to help you set the stage for your newborn's lifetime of literacy: How do babies use books? Babies love to observe.

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Big Kids Also Thrive With Bedtime Stories

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Not only is continuing the bedtime story tradition with your child after their toddler years a bonding experience, but it has benefits. So your child is reading on his or her own, that means you don't have to read to them anymore, right? Not so fast.

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Credit: Lillian Mongeau/EdSource Today

In "The Pout-Pout Fish" children's picture book, the author weaves words like "aghast" and "grimace" into a story about a fish who thought he was destined to "spread the dreary-wearies all over the place" until...well, no need to spoil the ending.

Finding such rich language in a picture book is not unusual, and reading those stories aloud will introduce children to an extensive vocabulary, according to new research conducted by Dominic Massaro, a professor emeritus in psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He said although parents can build their children's vocabularies by talking to them, reading to them is more effective.

Reading aloud is the best way to help children develop word mastery and grammatical understanding, which form the basis for learning how to read, said Massaro, who studies language acquisition and literacy. He found that picture books are two to three times as likely as parent-child conversations to include a word that isn't among the 5,000 most common English words.

Picture books even include more uncommon words than conversations among adults, he said.

"We talk with a lazy tongue," Massaro said. "We tend to point at something or use a pronoun and the context tells you what it is. We talk at a basic level."

Massaro said the limited vocabulary in ordinary, informal speech means what has been dubbed "the talking cure" - encouraging parents to talk more to their children to increase their vocabularies - has its drawbacks. Reading picture books to children would not only expose them to more words, he said, but it also would have a leveling effect for families with less education and a more limited vocabulary.

"Given the fact that word mastery in adulthood is correlated with early acquisition of words, shared picture book reading offers a potentially powerful strategy to prepare children for competent literacy skills," Massaro said in the study.

The emphasis on talking more to children to increase their vocabularies is based on research by Betty Hart and Todd Risley at the University of Kansas. They found that parents on welfare spoke about 620 words to their children in an average hour compared with 2,150 words an hour spoken by parents with professional jobs. By age 3, the children with professional parents had heard 30 million more words than the children whose parents were on welfare. Hart and Risley concluded that the more parents talked to their children, the faster the children's vocabularies grew and the higher the children's I.Q. test scores were at age 3 and later. Since their research was published, there has been a push to encourage low-income parents to talk more to their children as a way to improve literacy.

"Reading takes you beyond the easy way to communicate," said Dominic Massaro, psychology professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "It takes you to another world and challenges you."

But more picture book reading would be beneficial to children from every social class, Massaro said. What limits the tongue of even well-educated adults are "certain rules of discourse," such as responding quickly, he said. That reduces word choices to those acquired early and used more frequently. In conversation, people also repeat words that have been recently spoken, further restricting the variety of words used.

Writing, on the other hand, is more formal, Massaro said, even in children's books.

"Reading takes you beyond the easy way to communicate," he said. "It takes you to another world and challenges you."

Reading picture books to babies and toddlers is important, he said, because the earlier children acquire language, the more likely they are to master it.

"You are stretching them in vocabulary and grammar at an early age," Massaro said. "You are preparing them to be expert language users, and indirectly you are going to facilitate their learning to read."

"Two Different Communication Genres and Implications for Vocabulary Development and Learning to Read" by Dominic W. Massaro, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2015

"The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3" by Betty Hart and Todd Risley, University of Kansas, 1995

"The Talking Cure" by Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, Jan. 12, 2005

Massaro said encouraging older children to sound out words and explaining what a word means if it isn't clear in the context of the story will help build children's vocabularies. Allowing children to pick the books they are interested in and turn the pages themselves keeps them active and engaged in learning, he said.

Reading to children also teaches them to listen, and "good listeners are going to be good readers," Massaro said.

Massaro said that 95 percent of the time when adults are reading to children, the children are looking at the pictures, partly because picture books tend to have small or fancy fonts that are hard to read. If picture book publishers would use larger and simpler fonts, then children would be more likely to also focus on the words, helping them to become independent readers, he said.

In the study, Massaro compared the words in 112 popular picture books to adult-to-child conversations and adult-to-adult conversations. The picture books, which were recommended by librarians and chosen by him, included such favorites as "Goodnight Moon" and "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."

Most of the books Massaro used were fiction, but children's picture books can also be nonfiction and discuss topics such as earthquakes or ocean life that would likely include a larger number of uncommon words, he said, giving them an even greater advantage over conversation.

To analyze the conversations, Massaro used two databases of words. One database involved 64 conversations with 32 mothers. The mothers had one conversation with their baby, age 2 to 5 months, while interacting with toys, and another "casual conversation" with an adult experimenter. The second database consisted of more than 2.5 million words spoken by parents, caregivers and experimenters in the presence of children with a mean age of 36 months.

In his comparison, Massaro identified the number of uncommon words, and he determined that the picture books he analyzed contained more of them than the language used in conversation.

Massaro's study has been accepted for publication in The Journal of Literacy Research.
To get more reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource's no-cost daily email on latest developments in education.

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Study says reading aloud to children, more than talking, builds literacy

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Credit: Lillian Mongeau/EdSource Today In "The Pout-Pout Fish" children's picture book, the author weaves words like "aghast" and "grimace" into a story about a fish who thought he was destined to "spread the dreary-wearies all over the place" until...well, no need to spoil the ending.

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So you have an interview coming up with a local TV or radio station or a short speaking engagement at an event or conference. Excellent! This is a great way for your library to get important early literacy messages to a lot of people in a short time. The reality is though, that you will likely only have a few short minutes to communicate a lot of information. To help you successfully meet this time challenge; we've compiled these talking points - everything the world needs to know about ECRR & Early Literacy in compelling and short points.
Please note that if you are contacted by any national press organization, (such as NPR, the Huffington Post, The New York Times, etc.) regarding your ECRR programming, we ask that you contact us (ecrr@ala.org) immediately so that we can provide you with important information and also coordinate the interview via the ALA Press Office.
First, a few tips on preparing for your interview
* Have talking points (see below for ECRR talking points). You should always go into an interview with at least three key messages or talking points that you want to make. Focus on making those points, no matter what questions are asked. Guide the interview.

* Bridge to your key messages or talking points. If a question seems off topic, bring it back around to what you want to say. For example, you might bridge by saying "That is an interesting question. I think the issue at hand is..."

* Be concise. Give answers that are brief, and always answer in complete sentences. This way the reporter will not have to edit your statement and you are less likely to be misquoted or taken out of context.

* Limit industry jargon. Use terms familiar to the general public to ensure your message is clearly communicated.

* Let us know if you plan to mention Every Child Ready to Read! Email us at ecrr@ala.org. We can answer questions or provide you with information you may need to prepare for your interview. Again, if you are contacted by any national press organization regarding your ECRR programming, it is important that you contact us ALSC/PLA immediately so that we can coordinate via the ALA Press Office.
Talking Points - Every Child Ready To Read
* Your Mission -State your library's mission regarding early childhood literacy and detail your library's early literacy programs (1 or 2 at most). Emphasize that "the library has research-based early literacy workshops and supporting materials to help parents and caregivers get children ready to read." Mention that the library's early literacy programs are derived from the American Library Association's Every Child Ready to Read program, a research-based series of practices that can help young children develop essential literacy skills that will help them get ready to read and on the right path to school readiness and student success.

* Key Message to Return to Throughout Interview - Emphasize where possible that "Learning to read begins at birth." and "Parents and caregivers are a child's first and best teacher."

* Educate listeners/viewers -Emphasize the five practices, talking, singing, reading, writing, playing - as well as the importance of parental involvement. Remind listeners that parents and caregivers are a child's first and best teachers. Let listeners know that program also is available in Spanish (if this applies to your library). Using the five simple but effective practices, parents and caregivers can help children develop early literacy skills, that will get them ready to read. Go over the five practices:

1. Talking: Talking with children helps them learn oral language, one of the most critical early literacy skills. Children learn about language by listening to parents talk and joining in the conversation.
2. Singing: Singing develops language skills. Slows down language so children can hear the different sounds in words. Helps children learn new words and information.
3. Reading: Reading together develops vocabulary and comprehension, nurtures a love for reading, and motivates children to want to learn to read.
4. Writing: Children become aware that printed letters stand for spoken words as they see print used in their daily lives.
5. Playing: Play is one of the best ways for children to learn language and literacy skills. They learn about language through playing as the activities help them put thoughts into words and talk about what they are doing.

* Personal Story - Emphasize that the library's early literacy programming is based on the ECRR research and the five practices. What is the end result of your program (that is, why should the audience care?) Add a personal story of someone (or some family) who has benefited from your programs. In addition to attending your library's programming, make it clear what listeners can do to support early childhood literacy - i.e., the five practices: Talking, Singing, Reading, Writing, Playing.

* Further Information - Library Plug- Clearly give your organization's contact information. Provide address, phone number, and website url and repeat where possible.

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So you have an interview coming up with a local TV or radio station or a short speaking engagement at an event or conference. Excellent! This is a great way for your library to get important early literacy messages to a lot of people in a short time.

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Pathways to Wellbeing: Summary of Findings : Rural Libraries & Social Wellbeing

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No longer in existence! They did exactly what I hope to do.

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The Books for Kids Foundation - Overview