How BookBooster.org helped raise $50,000 for students in need Guest post by A.T. McWilliams and Holman Gao, Founders of BookBooster.org Students in Oakland pose with their new copies of “A Wrinkle in Time” before a class field trip to see the movie. “We don’t have any books there.” Before… Read More

By Kyle Zimmer, president, co-founder, and CEO of First Book. This post first appeared on Medium on June 12, 2018. A Texas elementary school media specialist recently shared a 43-second video that blew me away. In the video, a young boy named Isaiah holds a book… Read More

Wolves can come in all shapes and sizes. Do I have your attention now? Mary Mazzio with Ricky Martin. Mazzio and her team received the Ricky Martin Foundation’s Tau Humanitarian Award for I AM LITTLE RED. So warns Lady J, the animated version of Academy Award-nominee Jessica Chastain, as she… Read More

Two years ago, First Book partnered with the NEA Foundation and Lee & Low Books to expand the Stories for All Project™, First Book’s initiative to increase the diversity in children’s books. As a continuation of our shared commitment to ensuring that diverse, inclusive books are both abundant… Read More

We already know that kids from low-income households are at a disadvantage from the start. They are more likely to attend schools with fewer resources, face poor health outcomes, and experience crime, violence, and limited access to job opportunities than their counterparts from middle- and high-income households. Consider that more… Read More

Authored by Caitlyn Maltese on October 12, 2017. Updated on May 17, 2018. Children’s books are not just for children. As educators and program leaders, children’s and young adult books can be an essential tool to help you learn how to connect with the children you serve. By reading… Read More

It’s our mission here at First Book to provide for the children our community of educators serve with whatever they may need to learn, and continually ask educators what their needs are so we may work to meet them. We surveyed members of the First Book… Read More

By Carey M. Palmquist, senior vice president for eCommerce at First Book Imagine waking up every morning as a teacher in a Title I school.   You’re doing this because you want to. I mean…right? You had this incredible notion of giving back, of mentoring, of profoundly… Read More

Today’s kids are playing less than any other generation. Play is losing out to TV, recess times have declined and many children in low-income communities lack safe spaces to run, jump and be active. But play is essential to kids’ learning. Play helps encourage kids to explore and use their… Read More

May is Asian-American Pacific Islander Heritage Month – a time to celebrate the rich culture and history of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. Here at First Book, we celebrate this time the way we celebrate most things – with stories! We often cite Rudine Sims Bishop’s essay that states that literature… Read More