Photo by Saverio Truglia for TIME During the lazy, hazy days of summer, between the pool, video games and everything in the middle, children risk losing a significant portion of what they learned during the previous school year.  While some children have access to resources to curb their summer reading loss, many, unfortunately do not.  Without activities to keep these children’s minds sharp, they risk falling behind in school and beyond. In Time Magazine’s “The Case Against Summer Vacation,” author David Von Drehle argues that students should have access to a school’s resources all year long so that children who cannot attend summer camps or educational field trips retain their knowledge. If the school year were extended over the Read More

Ever wonder what your dog would say to you if it could speak? (Some possible ideas: “Must you always speak in baby-talk to me? That’s insulting.” and “Under no circumstances should I be forced to wear a cardigan.”) Well now you can check out what’s on… Read More

One of the great things about working at First Book is how wonderfully supportive our many partners and friends are of the work we do.  We regularly hear from authors who say, “How can I support First Book’s efforts?”  So regularly, in fact, that we will be rolling out some… Read More

Guest blogger, Laurie Isop, owns a photography business with her husband in Renton, Washington.   Laurie is the winner of the 3rd Cheerios New Author Contest for aspiring children’s book authors. Got a story that's been languishing in your desk drawer?  Well if it's geared to children, you could have a chance to see your book published and distributed inside over two million boxes of Cheerios!  Now is the time to polish up an old idea or get inspired with a new one, because the 4th annual Cheerios® New Author Contest is taking submissions.  It's a once-a-year, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make your dream of getting published a reality, and this Read More

I spend a lot of time here at First Book in Washington D.C. talking with our Recipient Groups about how to receive books, but last week I was able to experience the thrill of providing books to the children that need them most first-hand! Early Sunday morning, I packed up my laptop and left the humid heat of Washington, D.C. for the humid heat of Oklahoma City to distribute 330,000books as part of National Summer Learning Day with the help of our fantastic partners at Disney Publishing Worldwide and Feed the Children! Upon landing in Oklahoma, Erin Carlstrom from Feed the Children met Larry, Mitali, Rachael and myself and whisked us off to local Oklahoma City schools to help prepare for reading events which took place on June 21st, National Summer Learning Day. The next day we had a busy schedule driving throughout Oklahoma City hosting events at three local schools. These events went off without a hitch thanks to help from the Oklahoma City Fire Department, Sheriff’s office, staff from the Lieutenant Governor’s office, Feed the Children, and local Reach out and Read employees.  We spent the day discussing the importance of summer reading, our favorite places to read in the hot summer, our favorite books to read over and over by the pool – and then surprised the kids with books for them to take home and read all summer Read More

Summer Reading: 60 titles for 92 days. Having trouble deciding what to read this season? Let the  LA Times help you with a selection, made by the Times’ book editors, of forthcoming titles. July Reviews of the Latest Spanish-Language Titles for children. This libraryjournal.com… Read More

Name: Tonya S.  Where is your home town? Edmonton, KY—where there is only 1 stoplight and 1 McDonald’s in the entire county. What do you do at First Book? Work to strengthen and establish new partnership with other nonprofit organizations and secondary stakeholders What book… Read More

This Month’s Recipient Group: Pleasant Glade Elementary is a school wide title one program that targets children for their home visitor program. The program funds individuals who work with families nominated by teachers. These families tend to have children in lower grades and are somehow at risk. For instance, a home visitor will model how to read an age appropriate book with a child in a family with a second language using one of the age appropriate Spanish titles offered by the First Book Marketplace. Pleasant Glade Elementary also conducts a “club house”, which is an after school program held three nights a week, where children are given the opportunity to work with home visitors for extra reading help. Pleasant Glade Elementary has also used extra parent funds to purchase a number of books through the First Book Marketplace. They have purchased a wide variety of books, including Spanish titles. How many children do you serve and what are their age ranges? The home visitor program serves approximately 12 families a year. Books are Read More

Exciting news! First Book has been selected to be one of 50 nonprofits showcased in this year’s Members Project from American Express and TakePart.  If First Book can win the most votes in the Education category between now and August 22, we will win $200,000 – enough… Read More

  Today not only marks the first day of summer, but it’s also Summer Learning Day! Communities across the country are celebrating the importance of summer learning by hosting events that demonstrate the value of keeping the children in your community learning during the summer months. Read More