With engaging books featuring diverse characters, Kreitzer’s students’ achievement scores are now higher than the classrooms using school-provided resources. Kate Kreitzer, a 5th grade teacher in St Paul, MN, believes that finding culturally relevant, rigorous, and engaging academic material is key to her students’ academic achievement. Teaching reading can be tough… Read More

The following post first appeared on Medium, April 20, 2018. Authored by Kyle Zimmer, president, co-founder, and CEO of First Book. A Texas elementary school media specialist shared on Twitter a 43-second video that blew me away. Read More

“It’s a group effort. Through [First Book’s] program, [we’ve] been able to help children in our county. It’s taken a village to help our children have a book in their hands.” – Rhonda Kersey Lincoln County is the number one county in West Virginia in which babies are born addicted… Read More

Empty bookshelves in school libraries, kids without backpacks or lunch or socks, educators shelling out an average of $500 a year to outfit their classrooms–this is why we do what we do at First Book. And this year, we have the opportunity to make sure that every back-to-school start is… Read More

Imagine not owning a book. Think about what you’d do if you couldn’t afford school supplies. How would it affect your life? Your children’s lives? Sean Bellamy is a third-grade teacher in Washington, D.C. Sadly, this is a reality for many Americans. In fact, 61% of… Read More

Recently, the First Book Marketplace launched product reviews. Not only do these reviews help fellow members of the First Book community of educators decide what products will help them most, they also help our staff understand how our community members are using the products we provide,… Read More

Guest post by Camila Rios, First Book intern Spanish-language books are a versatile and valuable resource. Use them with Spanish speakers, Spanish learners, bilingual students, and English language learners in any setting where you’re working with kids and families. Use Spanish-Language Books To… Foster Strong Bilingual Skills Research shows that students who… Read More

It’s the Dog Days of Summer, and the weather’s too hot even for our pets to enjoy time outside! So, we’re staying indoors with our furry friends and their favorite books. We asked the First Book community & staff to show us what their favorite furry companions are… Read More

This blog was originally posted on July 25th, 2014. It has been updated with new outbound links. All summer long, you’ve heard how summer slide – the learning loss that occurs when kids are out of school – adds… Read More

“I think young people have something to say, and I think that they do the best they can to say it and  sometimes the language isn’t there, but we as adults have an obligation and a responsibility to hear the things that aren’t being said–and to help them carve the… Read More