Diverse Books for All Coalition Partners with MomsRising to Support Parent Engagement

Posted in: Press Room

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 9, 2023) – The Diverse Books for All Coalition, a national collaboration of 38 nonprofits working to tackle the lack of affordable, diverse children’s books, is partnering with MomsRising to bring the insights and perspective of parents to help shape the Coalition’s work. As part of that mandate,... Read more

Leading Education Organizations Launch Reading Universe Prototype to Help Teachers Build a Nation of Confident Readers

Posted in: Press Room

WETA, the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book join forces to establish a free, innovative professional development platform that provides educators with evidence-based guidance and tools for how to teach reading and writing Washington, D.C. (July 25, 2023) – WETA, the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book have launched a... Read more

Nine Books to Teach Kids About Body Positivity

Posted in: Our Bookshelf

This guest post was written by Audrey Vinkenes, a First Book Marketing and Communications Intern. She is currently a grad student at the University of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland. It’s never too early to encourage children to feel positive about their bodies! According to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott... Read more

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Magic Tree House Collection

Posted in: For Educators, Impact Stories, Our Partners

This year is the 30th anniversary of Mary Pope Osborne’s beloved Magic Tree House series. The incredibly popular series, published by Penguin Random House, has sold over 143 million books worldwide and includes over one hundred titles. Those titles include the Merlin Missions subseries for advanced readers and the Magic... Read more

10 Scary (And Semi-Scary) Stories for Kids and Teens

Posted in: Our Bookshelf

Scary stories let readers explore their fears or indulge their cravings for high-stimulation content in a safe, controlled space – between the pages of a book. To help you get started, the wonderful team behind the curation of First Book’s Marketplace has selected 10 books that offer gentle seasonal content... Read more

Newman’s Own Foundation and First Book Bring Nutrition and Healthy Eating Books to Rural Georgia

Posted in: Impact Stories

Thanks to a $15,000 grant from Newman’s Own Foundation, the independent foundation created by the late actor and philanthropist, Paul Newman, First Book gave children in rural Georgia more than 3,000 books. The award was made by Newman’s Own Foundation as part of its commitment to address issues of fresh... Read more

Meet the Reading Dogs

Posted in: Impact Stories

Today’s guest blogger is Robyn Douglas from Down East Dog Scouts Troop 159 in Hancock County, ME. I want to tell you about Cirra. In her six years as a reading buddy, Cirra has given hundreds of books to kids. She’s helped dozens of children improve their reading and comprehension.... Read more

Welcoming We Give Books to the First Book Family

Posted in: Focus on First Book

Our New Partner: We Give Books We can’t keep it a secret any longer! As of today, We Give Books has a new home at First Book. The online platform, which features nearly 300 digitally-optimized children’s books, enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of... Read more

A Path Appears

Posted in: Focus on First Book, Impact Stories

Today’s blog post is an excerpt from A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity, the latest book from New York Times’ columnist and best-selling authors Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. In A Path Appears, which was released yesterday by Random House, Nick and Sheryl highlight “some of today’s most successful... Read more

187 Reasons Why a Teacher Needs Books

Posted in: For Educators, Impact Stories

Today’s guest blogger, Sarah Kilway, wrote to us after receiving hundreds of new books for her students. We couldn’t resist sharing her story with you. I teach 187 kids at Ben Davis Ninth Grade Center in Indianapolis, IN. The majority of my students live in poverty. Most have only one... Read more