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Book Distribution Programs to Support Early Literacy

These programs distribute children's books (often at no cost) to parents in locations such as child care programs, hospitals, health clinics, doctors' offices, libraries, shelters, as well as their own homes. Often, books are distributed through programs offering services to low income families. Some book distribution programs provide specialized training for early childhood caregivers and teachers. Training generally includes information on how to make sharing books interesting; how to use reading to develop language skills; and how to promote parental book sharing and reading.

  • Beginning with Books
    5920 Kirkwood Street
    Pittsburgh, PA 15206
    412-361-8560
    World Wide Web: http://www.beginningwithbooks.org

    Beginning with Books distributes book packs through organizations that serve low-income families (for example, WIC, Head Start, and family support centers) through its Gift Book Program. It also provides parent counseling on reading and talking about books to their children. In 2002, they distributed 11,915 Gift Book packets (that's nearly 48,000 books) and worked with 20 different organizations. In addition, 3,500 books were given through the READy for Life program, and approximately 20,000 families received books and information on literacy from their medical provider. Beginning With Books has also created a training component to share their expertise in early literacy development. In addition to offering individualized workshops on a variety of topics, Beginning with Books provides an intensive six-month early literacy training and mentoring opportunity for staff of child care homes and early education centers. Information about training is available on the Web at http://www.beginningwithbooks.org/prof.html. Information about research in Beginning with Books is available on the Web at http://www.beginningwithbooks.org/report.html.
  • Books for Babies/ Friends of Libraries USA (FOL/USA)
    48 Pilgard Lane
    Glastonbury, CT 06033
    860-633-5938
    World Wide Web: http://www.folusa.org/outreach/books-for-babies.php

    Books for Babies is a literacy program that acquaints parents of newborns with the important role they play in the development of their children. The project's goal is to help parents understand that by reading to their babies and by becoming regular library users themselves, they help their babies to develop language skills and start them on the path to success in reading and learning. Each Books for Babies packet includes the pamphlet titled Babies Love Books, A Guide for Grown-ups; a sturdy board book suitable for an infant; a booklet of fingerplays and games; tips on reading to children; the brochure titled Raising a Reader, Raising a Writer from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and Baby's First Library Card, which can be taken to a local library and exchanged for a real card. Books are available in Spanish as well as English.
  • Books for Kids Foundation
     129 West 27th Street, 6th Floor
    New York, NY 10001
    212-252-9168
    World Wide Web: http://www.booksforkidsfoundation.org

    The mission of the Books for Kids Foundation is to promote literacy among children, with a special emphasis on disadvantaged children and youth. Books for Kids donates books, creates libraries, and participates in reading initiatives within community-based organizations, social service agencies, and schools. The Books for Kids national office serves the greater New York City area as well as communities throughout the United States, with local chapters serving the mid-Hudson Valley of New York, Arizona, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Southern California.
  • Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
    The Dollywood Foundation
    1020 Dollywood Lane
    Pigeon Forge, TN 37863
    865-428-9604
    World Wide Web: http://www.dollywoodfoundation.com

    Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, developed in 1995 for her hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee, has been replicated in communities across the United States. All children in the community are enrolled at birth or when they move into the community. Each month, from the day the child is born until their 5th birthday, a selected book arrives at the mailbox. The Dollywood Foundation has developed the delivery system, negotiated price, selected the publisher and the individual titles, and created registration and promotional materials. Local champions finance the cost of the books and the mailing. Local champions are businesses, individuals, United Ways, school systems, local and state government, foundations and nonprofit organizations.

    The Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation was created in Tennessee in May 2004, to partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Foundation to help make her prekindergarten literacy program available to all Tennessee children regardless of family income. The Foundation serves as a catalyst and tangible resource to local leaders seeking to establish their own countywide Imagination Library initiatives. The Foundation staff is charged with raising Statewide funds; administering the Imagination Library Statewide rollout; and providing support, training, and resources to county efforts. The Foundation is partnering with all 95 Tennessee counties in order to reach all 375,000 Tennessee children under the age of 5. The cost of the program is $27.00 per child, per year, which includes 12 hardcover, age-appropriate books, postage, shipping, and handling. Additional information is available on the Web at http://www.governorsfoundation.org/index.html.
  • First Book
    1319 F Street NW, Suite 1000
    Washington, DC 20004-1155
    202-393-1222
    World Wide Web: http://www.firstbook.org

    First Book is a national nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first, new books. The children supported by First Book include those who participate in literacy programs based in shelters for homeless and abused children, public housing programs, Head Start centers, migrant worker camps, libraries, and school-based programs. First Book's primary goal is to work through its national network of community-based Local Advisory Boards to provide children with an ongoing supply of free books. In 2001, First Book distributed more than 7 million books to low-income children in over 700 communities around the country. The Public Broadcasting Service's (PBS) program, Ready To Learn, has obtained books through the First Book Program to distribute monthly to low-income families. First Book has developed a sustaining network of partnerships from the private and government sectors. The results of an independent study by Louis Harris to determine the effectiveness of the First Book model is available from First Book’s national office.
  • The Lisa Libraries
    P.O. Box 430
    Boiceville, NY 12412
    World Wide Web: www.lisalibraries.org/frames.html

    The Lisa Libraries donates new children's books and small libraries to organizations that work with kids in poor and under-served areas. Some of the libraries established have been at day-care centers, prison visiting areas for children of incarcerated parents, and after-school programs. The Lisa Libraries supplements under-filled shelves as well as provides books to many children who may never have owned a book before. In 2004, the Lisa Libraries contributed over 15,000 books to nonprofit organizations across the country. In general, the Lisa Libraries has a strong interest in supporting small, grass-roots organizations.
  • Literacy Empowerment Foundation (LEF)
    1311 West Chester Pike
    West Chester, PA 19382
    610-719-6448
    World Wide Web: www.lefbooks.org

    LEF is dedicated to assisting educational programs by providing inexpensive children's books. Its Reading Resource Project distributes books free of charge for literacy programs. Books come in sets of 100 books. Reading levels are available for prekindergarten through 2nd grade. Reading Resource Project books are used for reading incentive, book ownership, and book reward programs. LEF has distributed books to over 40,000 schools nationwide. The program is an ongoing program that runs throughout the year.

  • National Book Scholarship Fund (NBSF)
    1320 Jamesville Avenue
    Syracuse, NY 13210
    315-422-9121, ext. 345
    World Wide Web: http://www.nbsf.org

    NBSF provides books and materials to literacy projects throughout the United States that help parents and children in need. The resources for the NBSF are from New Readers Press, the publishing division of ProLiteracy Worldwide. The NBSF is different from other "give away" programs that donate a book to a child or to an adult who may not be able to afford one. Primary consideration is given to supporting family literacy initiatives. English as a Second Language (ESL), adult basic educational programs, and projects that involve women-focused basic literacy or ESL programming will be considered for support. Books from the NBSF are actually used to provide men, women, and children with the literacy instruction they need to learn to read. More than $1.6 million in books and materials has been distributed nationally by the NBSF since 1995. NBSF is a program of ProLiteracy Worldwide, recently formed by the merger of Laubach Literacy and Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc.
  • Page Ahead
    88 Spring Street, Suite 123
    Seattle, WA 98104
    206-461-0123
    World Wide Web: http://pageahead.org/

    Page Ahead provides new books and promotes reading activities for at-risk children and their families to enrich lives and strengthen communities. Since 1990, Page Ahead has placed more than 1.25 million new books into the hands of 450,000 at-risk children through collaborations with schools, social service agencies, preschools, and early childhood centers across Washington State.

  • Raising A Reader
    2744 Sand Hill Road
    Menlo Park, CA 94025-7118
    866-266-5224
    World Wide Web: http://www.raisingareader.org

    Raising A Reader is a "take-home" book bag program, implemented through child care settings via a ready-to-use Classroom Kit. The program aims to encourage families in an easy, engaging, and nonintimidating manner to establish a regular reading routine at home that excites parents and their preschool children. It aims to engage parents of all types, including those with poor reading skills. Children in the program receive a colorful book bag with three books that they borrow for one week. Each week they return the books and receive new ones. The Raising A Reader program has been implemented in a variety of San Mateo County, California, child care centers. The program costs $95 per child to start the program and $20 per child to sustain the program each year. Evaluation results are available on the Web at http://www.raisingareader.org/research.html.
  • Raising Readers
    P.O. Box 17826
    Portland, ME 04112
    800-397-3263

    World Wide Web: http://www.raisingreaders.net
    The Raising Readers program, funded by the Libra Foundation, recognizes the importance of early childhood literacy and has been designed to reach Maine children by taking advantage of the strong relationship between parents, children, and their health care providers. Each newborn in Maine will receive a canvas bag with two new hardcover books from their primary care physician, and another new book at each regularly scheduled well child visit through age 5. By that time, children will have a mini-library of 12 special books to call their own. Raising Readers is the largest children's book program ever undertaken in a single State. When fully operational, more than 160,000 books will be given out each year at a total cost of approximately $1 million. The program is administered through a joint effort between MaineHealth and Eastern Maine Health Care, through the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center and Eastern Maine Medical Center.
  • Reach Out and Read (ROR)
    29 Mystic Avenue
    Somerville, MA 02145
    617-629-8042
    World Wide Web: http://www.reachoutandread.org

    ROR is a national pediatric early literacy program that began in 1989. ROR is a primary prevention program that incorporates early literacy into standard primary pediatric care. When young children come to clinics for routine health visits and immunizations, doctors and nurses prescribe books for their young patients. Research shows that ROR-type activities increase family literacy. ROR works with more than 1,800 clinics and hospitals, and with more than 22,000 primary care medical providers in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. One-and-a-half million children are served annually; three million new books are given to families annually; and 14,000 physicians and nurses are trained in the ROR methodology. Collaborations are encouraged among ROR sites and other early childhood professionals. Information about research on the impact of ROR is available on the Web at http://www.reachoutandread.org/about_research.html.
  • Read, Educate and Develop Youth (R.E.A.D.Y.) Program
    Michigan State Board of Education
    608 West Allegan Street
    P.O. Box 30008
    Lansing, MI 48909
    517-373-3324
    World Wide Web: http://www.michigan.gov/mde/

    In 1998 the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) developed the R.E.A.D.Y. program to make parents of young children aware of the rapid pace of development that occurs across the early years of a child's life. The main component of the program is the R.E.A.D.Y. kit, which contains materials for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. These include a quality children's book; parent/child learning activities; a reminder magnet; a list of enjoyable age-appropriate books; a R.E.A.D.Y. brochure on the importance of engaging and reading to young children; a child development guide; the I Am Your Child development video tape; and, a music cassette of nursery rhymes and children's favorite songs. Legislative funding through 2001 provided for the development, production and distribution of over 630,000 R.E.A.D.Y. kits to Michigan parents at no cost to the families. Through corporate support and creative funding, the R.E.A.D.Y. program continues to offer free distribution to Michigan's at-risk families. Distribution of these new kits takes place through programs offering services to low-income families. The program has now developed a national version of the kit.

  • Reading is Fundamental (RIF)
    1825 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 400
    Washington, DC 20009
    202-673-1522
    World Wide Web: http://www.rif.org

    RIF is a national nonprofit children's literacy organization. RIF develops and delivers child and family literacy programs that help prepare young children for reading and motivate school-age children to read regularly. Through a national network of teachers, parents, and community volunteers, RIF programs provide books and other literacy resources to children, at no cost to them or their families. RIF focuses its highest priority on the nation's neediest children, from birth to age 11. In 2000, through a national grassroots network of more than 310,000 community volunteers, RIF programs provided 14 million free, new books and other literacy resources to more than 4.3 million children. RIF serves children and families in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories in programs that operate in schools, libraries, community centers, child care centers, Head Start and Even Start centers, hospitals, migrant worker camps, homeless shelters, and detention centers. In addition, RIF disseminates reading resources, including the videos, Read with Me and Read with Me: The Parent-Teacher Partnership, which were developed in collaboration with Head Start. Gateways to Early Literacy is a four-part video training series designed to help those who care for children in their homes to enrich and support children's early language and literacy development. RIF supports programs to encourage parent involvement in their children's reading, including the Shared Beginnings curriculum, which helps young parents develop their children's early language and literacy skills, and Family of Readers, a family reading program.
  • The Soho Center's Child Care Literacy Project
    HC 6 Box 612
    Madison, VA 22727
    540-923-5012
    World Wide Web: http://www.child2000.org/literacy.htm

    The Soho Center's Child Care Literacy Project has distributed tens of thousands of dollars worth of quality children's books to home-based family child care providers. The program is free to participating family child care providers and gives priority of book distribution to providers who complete regulatory requirements and join the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Program. The project is currently being piloted in many counties in Virginia.

Updated April 2007