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Last year First Book made it a goal to reach more kids in need by doubling the number of local schools and community programs in our national network, from 25,000 to 50,000.

We’ve reached that number! Over 50,000 Title I classrooms, early childhood education programs, afterschool programs, museums and libraries, housing authorities, faith-based organizations, military family support programs, health clinics and others are signed up with First Book, and every one of them now has permanent, ongoing access to a steady stream of brand-new, high-quality books and educational resources.

That’s terrific news, and we’re grateful to all the partners and supporters that helped us get there.

But we’re not knocking off work just yet. There are 30 million children in the United States living in low-income homes, and access to books is scarce for far too many of them. There are over 1.3 million programs and classrooms still waiting for us, and we need to reach them all.

Help make that happen! If you know someone who works with kids from low-income families, tell them about First Book. Forward them this blog post, or send them to our website, where they can sign up.

It’s quick, it’s free, and we have brand-new books just waiting for them.

At First Book, we want to see all kids become strong readers, the critical step to succeeding in school and in life. But all too often the children we work with have books with characters and stories that aren’t relevant to their lives. And that makes it harder to turn them on to reading.*

So today we’re taking an extraordinary step toward remedying this problem: The Stories for All Project.

We are not the first people to complain and worry about this issue. So we knew if we were actually going to make a difference we needed a market-driven solution. In short, we needed to put our money where our mouth is.

We reached out to the publishing industry with the offer to purchase $500,000 worth of books featuring voices that are rarely represented in children’s literature: minorities, characters of color, and others whose experiences resonate with the children we serve. The response was overwhelming. In fact, we received so many great proposals that we decided to double our commitment, purchasing $500,000 worth of new titles from both HarperCollins and Lee & Low Books — $1 million worth of books altogether. We’ll be able to offer hundreds of thousands of new books to the kids we serve.

With these major purchases, First Book is continuing to harness market forces to create social change; by aggregating the untapped demand for books and resources in thousands of low-income communities, we’re helping to create a new market for the publishing industry. When that happens, they respond by publishing more titles with more relevant content. Everyone really does win, and that’s how you make real, systemic change both possible and sustainable.

This is an exciting step! But it’s just the beginning. The Stories for All Project will include more titles reflecting diverse communities, including minorities, LGBTQ and special needs populations. We’re also convening a leadership council of noted authors, illustrators and other leaders to help us create content, and reach out to even more schools and programs so that we can reach the children and teachers who are waiting for us..

Join us! If you work with children from low-income neighborhoods, or know someone who does, sign up with First Book today. We have books for you too.

* In a recent survey of more than 2,000 educators from First Book schools and programs, 90 percent of respondents agreed that the children in their programs would be more enthusiastic readers if they had access to books with characters, stories and images that reflect their lives and their neighborhoods.

Kyle Zimmer is the president and CEO of First Book.

Click here (or on the flyer above) to sign up! Feel free to share this link, or download the graphic and share.

“Every dollar we invest in high-quality early education can save more than seven dollars later on – by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime.” — President Barack Obama

I was grateful to hear the president talk about early childhood education tonight, and the enormous impact it has on our nation.

Lack of access to education and resources for America’s most vulnerable children is a national crisis, every bit as serious as immigration reform, gun control and the national debt. But unlike so many other complex problems, this is one we know how to solve.

We have been talking about these children for generations. All that’s lacking is the political will.

Although the issues we face are complex, we know that early childhood education is the most straightforward solution; every study shows that there’s nothing more valuable than turning a child into a reader at an early age. They enter school with greater knowledge and vocabularies; they do better not just on reading tests, but on math tests. They have the foundation they need to succeed — in school and in life.

We know what happens otherwise. As President Obama alluded to, kids who drop out of high school are far more likely to be jobless, become teen parents, or end up in prison, and far less likely to become informed, engaged citizens. While we debate endlessly, an entire generation of leaders, thinkers, engineers, artists and writers is being lost to us for lack of opportunities and resources.

Children from low-income neighborhoods are the most vulnerable. 80 percent of the preschools and after school programs serving children in need do not have a single book for the children they serve. In some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country there is only one book available for every 300 children.

First Book, the organization I lead, is committed to helping the 30 million American children living in low-income neighborhoods become success stories. We work with local educators and community leaders across the country to supply them with new, high-quality books. They understand the needs of the children and families in their community, and First Book provides them with the books and educational resources they need.

So I urge all of you to get involved right now. If you work with kids in need at a Title I school, Head Start center or community program, sign up with First Book today to get new, high-quality books for your kids. You can also volunteer, or donate to support our work.

This is a crisis, but it’s one that we can solve. And — if we work together — we will.

Kyle Zimmer is president and CEO of First Book.

At First Book, we do everything in our power to make sure that kids from low-income families are getting the books they need. So we don’t just drop a box of used books off at the door. We work hard to make sure we offer Newbery and Caldecott winners, popular titles, books that kids want to read. The books are always brand-new, and we let the educators closest to the children make the decisions about which titles their kids will respond to.

But all too often, kids from low-income neighborhoods — if they have books at all — have books with characters and stories that aren’t relevant to their lives. And that makes it harder to turn them on to reading.

So today we’re taking another big step to make sure we’re doing everything we can to turn those kids into readers. We’ve reached out to our friends in the publishing industry with an extraordinary offer.

As the centerpiece of our new OMG Books (Offering More Great Books) initiative, we’re stepping up with $500,000 to purchase hundreds of thousands of new books featuring voices that are rarely represented in children’s literature: minorities, characters of color, and others whose experiences resonate with the children we serve, characters and stories that are relevant to their lives.

We already work closely with leading publishers to provide new books for teachers and program leaders serving children in need. Last year we purchased three million new books from major publishers, which we made available – at significant discounts – to the 50,000 schools and programs in our national network, through the First Book Marketplace.

At first, this approach seems unusual to some people. Why are we selling books to programs? Why aren’t we just giving them away?

Actually, we are giving books away — millions of them every year — through our National Book Bank program. But the First Book Marketplace is a different kinds of innovation.

Through the First Book Marketplace, we’re aggregating the buying power of tens of thousands of Title I classrooms, after-school programs, homeless shelters and others serving the most vulnerable children. Those classrooms and programs may not have the funds to go into a bookstore and buy books at retail prices, but when they come together through First Book, they represent a real market for the publishing industry. Which, in turn, benefits by reaching new customers they wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach.

This new initiative is a big deal, and we’re excited! The offer is out to every leading publisher, and we’re already getting back proposals. We’ll share more news as soon as we have it.

NOTE: If you work for a publisher, or are just interested in fine print, check out the request here. All proposals welcome!

Happy holidays, from everyone at First Book!

We had a big year here at First Book! I want to let you know everything we accomplished this year, and ask for your support as we continue our work to transform education by bringing new books to children from low-income families.

First Book celebrated two big milestones this year – our 20th anniversary and the distribution of our 100 millionth book. We also expanded the First Book network to bring brand-new books to a lot more teachers, librarians and local program leaders; 22,000 new schools and programs signed up in 2012, an increase of 92%.

On top of that, we delivered 11.2 million books, started local First Book volunteer chapters in a dozen new communities, and started offering critical new categories of books that teachers tell us are badly needed: anti-bullying books, healthy living books, bilingual/non-English titles and more.

But I don’t want to overwhelm you with numbers and statistics.

What all those things mean is new, high-quality books into the hands of kids from low-income families, the books they desperately need to succeed – in school and in life.

I will share with you a comment we received recently from Sue Carnes, a librarian at Kate Bell Elementary in Houston, about working with First Book to get new books for her students this year:

“First Book is the light at the end of the tunnel, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I wish you could have seen the smiles on the faces of the kids and teachers. Our students are never without a book now, even when the library is closed. Sometimes when things sound too good to be true, they are both good and true.”

Thank you so much for your support of First Book and the children who are counting on us.

Kyle Zimmer
President, First Book

* Click on the graphic to see a bigger, snazzier version.

Learn more about how First Book provides new books to kids in need, and how you can get involved, at firstbook.org.

Together, we’ve put over 100 million new books into the hands of children who need them, and we’re counting on your support this holiday season. This year, thanks to our friends at Disney, the impact of your gift will be tripled!

Every $2.50 donated to First Book provides one brand-new, high-quality book for a child from a low-income family. And Disney has agreed to match every one of those books with two additional books, from now through the end of the year. Click here to donate.

As always, when you donate to First Book, you can be sure your money is being used wisely; 97% of donations to First Book go directly to provide new, high-quality books to kids in need. (That’s how we won our four-star rating from Charity Navigator.)

Thanks for being part of our work, and happy holidays from everyone at First Book!

What to give your favorite aunt (or anyone else) for Christmas? Fruit cake? A reindeer scarf? Those mittens that are attached together with yarn?

How about the gift of reading to kids in need, in her name?

That’s right, every $2.50 you donate provides a brand-new, high-quality book for a child from a low-income family. Your favorite aunt will love it. and you can let her know with one of these snazzy e-cards:

As first-responders are working to provide these families with electricity, water, and other critical resources, First Book—in partnership with our local volunteers and partners—is raising funds to restock school and home libraries. After distributing more than 5 million books in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we know new books can be valuable lifelines for those whose worlds have been turned upside down.

Your help will ensure that children in need will have new books — stories at bedtime, the chance to be transported to another world, and the opportunity to return to normalcy.

Every $2.50 you contribute will provide a new book to a child affected by the storm.

Your impact will also be DOUBLED as each gift of $2.50 will be matched by an additional book from First Book’s publishing partners.

Today’s blog post is from Jenny Helber. Jenny is a parent volunteer at Bonne Ecole Elementary School located in Slidell, Louisiana. She has created an initiative entitled the ‘Twelve Books program’ at her children’s school. The program ensures that the children in her community have the access to books they need to succeed.

How does a school address the “summer slump” and ensure that when the school’s doors are closed, the opportunity to read is not closed as well?  Bonne Ecole Elementary in Slidell, Louisiana came up with the idea to create the Twelve Books program which gives emergent readers twelve self-selected books to take home and keep on the last day of school.

Funding this project on a small budget and relying on outside support were the biggest challenges faced in the initial year. Thanks to First Book and funds raised from grants and community donations, Bonne Ecole’s Twelve Books program served 130 students (every first grader), distributing 1,561 books for a total cost of $3,300.

Highlights from the first year of Twelve Books’ included a week of celebrity readers, a book fair, and the year-end Twelve Books for Kids event where students received a bag of books in the style of an Oprah show giveaway.

According to first grade teacher Susan Schwaner, “you cannot imagine the incredible anticipation, excitement, and desire of the students to have twelve books of their own to read over the summer.”

The impact of giving kids access to books is demonstrated in feedback from parent Diane Ripley who said her son, “was so excited to show me the books he chose…and this is my son who ‘hates to read’ as he says almost every time he has to read.”

If you want to make the kind of difference Jenny made at your local school, talk to your child’s teacher, librarian or reading specialist about First Book and help them get signed up today!

Dearest amazing First Book friends!

Your efforts to break the chains that hold children back is so inspiring. My organization, Gift A Book Foundation, is so happy to be a member of First Book!! A simple thank you surely doesn’t seen adequate.

First Book’s work lives on in the lives of children who would otherwise be forgotten.

Blessings & Peace,
Paulette Greenfield
Gift A Book Foundation

You can learn more about the Gift A Book Foundation and the amazing work they do here.

We can’t tell you how satisfying it is help people like Paulette make a difference in the lives of the children she serves. Join us!

“Our kids don’t get to have dreams, aspirations, hopes. They can’t even think about college; it’s not in their minds. That’s why these books are so important. Books are the beginning of everything. You learn about other places, you learn about the world.”

– Angela Fedele of the WE CAN Program, a statewide program based in Princeton, W.Va., that provides volunteer mentors for at-risk kids

Angela Fedele is one of the many teachers and program leaders who spend their days doing everything they can to help West Virginia’s kids. At First Book, our mission is to do everything we can to help people like Angela.

By signing up with First Book, Angela was able to provide $3,000 worth of new books for the children in her program, thanks to a combination of grant money and support from local First Book volunteers.

First Book works with programs across the country, but we have a special place in our hearts for West Virginia. We’ve provided 294,228 brand-new books to children in need across the state, and plan to distribute 14,000 more by the end of the summer, thanks in part to a federal grant from the Department of Education.

In addition, we’re launching a new partnership with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to ensure that more kids have the books and resources they need. We’ll be announcing more details about this partnership soon, but we had a great kick-off last week in Charleston. Together with our friends at the AFT, we provided new books, along with grants to purchase more, to two local schools – West Side Elementary and Stonewall Jackson Middle School.

Help us get the word out, West Virginia! If you work for a school or program that serves children from low-income families, or if you’d like to help your child’s teacher or program leader get new books, sign up with First Book. And if you’d like to join one of our local volunteer groups, we’d love to hear from you.

I received the Hooked on Phonics yesterday. I was so excited and I just wanted to thank First Book. These kits will be well-used by the children in my hometown. Most of them could not afford such a kit, and I know it will make a significant difference in their lives. There is no library here, or any other such place.

Dover Summer Read’s office will be a place where the kids will be able to read books, use a computer, and work on these exercises.

Thank you again from the children of Dover, NC and Dover Summer Read.

Cynthia Baker
Founder and President
Dover Summer Read

From everyone at First Book, a hearty welcome and a sincere ‘thank you’ to all our new followers on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, and an equally heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all our supporters and partners who shared last week’s social media message far and wide.

Thanks to all of you, we gained over 33,000 new followers on social media, and – true to their word – our friends at Random House Children’s Books will be donating 33,000 new books to First Book to distribute to kids in need all across the country. Outstanding work! Gold stars all around!

But many of you might be wondering “So what?”

30 Million Kids in Need

It’s a fair question. Is that a lot of books, in context? Where do they go? Do they have a meaningful impact? What about used books, e-books, library books, reading programs and a thousand other things?

At First Book, we recognize the complexity and intractability of the problem. There are 30 million children living in low-income families in the United States, and those kids don’t have a lot of things that other kids do. Economic security, physical safety, adequate food, shelter and healthcare … the list is long, daunting and hurts to think about.

One thing we know is that a solid, comprehensive education is the best chance many of those kids have at succeeding in life. Another thing we know is that there are hundreds of thousands of unbelievably dedicated teachers, volunteers and community program leaders working their hearts out every day to provide those educations. It’s not an easy job, and there are no guarantees.

But without basic tools, that hard job is a lot harder. Which is where First Book comes in.

Books to Kids Who Need Them

We work with great publishers, like Random House, to get books. Some are donated, and some we buy, but the critical thing is that they are high-quality, and there are a lot of them; last year we distributed 8 million new books. (There are lots of great programs that deal with gently-used and donated books, and we support and applaud them, but for what we’re trying to do, we need to be able to offer educators large quantities of new books. It’s important.)

Those books go to schools and programs all over the country. They’re used in classrooms and in libraries, at after-school programs and tutoring programs, at food banks and homeless shelters, church groups, Head Start programs and public charter schools. First Book works with 27,000 programs, but we know we’re just scratching the surface.

So that’s what. You did a little tiny bit of good when you clicked that button or shared that Twitter message, and lots of little tiny bits of good can add up to something real. It’s a big effort, and the stakes are unimaginably high, so we’re glad you’re here.

If you’d like to learn more about First Book’s mission and the amazing people we work with, visit firstbook.org and sign up for our monthly email newsletter.