We’re Celebrating Big Milestones!
Join us as we celebrate reaching over 600,000 educators and program leaders and distributing 250 million books and educational resources to underserved communities! Together, we’re impacting 6.5 million children every year.
Time for Change Youth Challenge – Now Open!
K-12 students can submit their ideas for positive change in their schools and communities for a chance to win $1,000 or more! Applications open through January 30th.
Building Grief Supportive School Environments
Discover how our partnership with the New York Life Foundation is making a difference by providing essential resources and support to educators and communities addressing childhood grief and loss.
Support First Book
Millions of children from low-income areas don’t have the tools they need to learn. You can help us reach more children and educators.
It is important to remember, even at this moment when our country feels so very divided, that our mission at First Book is unifying and urgent – to ensure that all children, regardless of their background or zip code, have access to quality education. We’re growing every day to reach the 27 million children in the US who live in low-income, under-resourced communities — and the heroic educators who are trying to navigate it all.
To our community: First Book is here to help! Our Network of more than 600,000 educators, program professionals and volunteers are the heart and soul of our organization – able to access high-quality books and resources at low- or no-cost, to share their experiences, needs and learnings, to help ensure that all kids can succeed by removing barriers to equitable education.
Please join us – our tireless First Book team is dedicated to a brighter future for our country’s children. We’re committed to helping ALL children living in low-income communities, and with your help, we can do it.
Our Mission
We envision a world where every child has access to a quality education.
Because education transforms lives.
- We level the educational playing field for children in need.
- We’re on a mission to ensure that all children, regardless of their background or zip code, can succeed — by removing barriers to equitable education.
Our Impact
First Book reaches 6.5 million kids each year in low-income communities across North America through a powerful network of more than 600,000 individual educators, professionals and volunteers specifically working with children in need. This is the largest online community of its kind.
Over 32 years, First Book has distributed more than 250 million high-quality books and educational resources to support kids, and the educators who serve them.
Our Model of Change
First Book is a nonprofit working to remove barriers to an equitable education for children living in low-income communities. We are passionate supporters of individual educators, professionals and volunteers who serve kids in need. We pride ourselves on having business minds and non-profit hearts. First Book is dedicated to breaking down the barriers to educational equity by increasing access to evidence-based best practices, books, and resources in underserved communities. And First Book is a bridge-builder, collaborating with public and private partners, translating best-in-class expertise into educational resources to support learning for children in underserved communities.
First Book Network
The First Book Network is made up of more than 600,000 individual educators, professionals and volunteers who exclusively serve kids in need.
First Book Marketplace
The First Book Marketplace provides 24/7 access to high-quality, new books, and educational resources at deeply discounted prices to First Book’s network of individual educators, professionals and volunteers working with kids in low-income communities.
First Book Research & Insights
First Book Research & Insights conducts qualitative and quantitative research, providing essential insights that guide the field and helps us identify what students need to overcome learning barriers.
First Book Accelerator
The First Book Accelerator turns our cutting-edge research into expert-informed, actionable teaching tools — in weeks rather than decades — so our members don’t have to wait for the latest evidence-based strategies that will help the kids they serve.
News from First Book
Featured Partners
Dedicated partners help us create even more opportunities for educators and kids in need.
This is one of the best organizations I have ever worked with in my many years in education and library services. The vast knowledge, resources, and opportunities that First Book provides are superb.
First Book Supporter