EVERY CHILD A READER INC

Every Child a Reader works year-round to help teachers, librarians and parents make the reading of children’s books a joy. Our programs celebrate the fun of reading picture books and books for middle graders and teens. Therefore, we provide free materials and reading programs online every day as well as holding annual reading events enjoyed in thousands of classrooms, libraries, and homes. We also get important spokespeople on national television and in person to talk about the value of reading at an early age. Our guiding principle: Quality educational resources to all for free.

Every Child a Reader’s four national and popular cornerstone programs provide structure and a national platform for educators to frame reading books as a joy. Children’s Book Week, in its 104th year, is a week long national book celebration each first week of May and November and the longest running literacy campaign in America. The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, in partnership with the Library of Congress, is in classrooms and on the media talking about the importance of children’s books. Our Kids' Book Choice Awards are the only book awards voted on solely by kids and teens. The Get Caught Reading program features positive role models reading books. We also work closely with charities who are getting books into homes without books and into Title 1 schools.

We are funded by the Children’s Book Council, grants and individual donors, and we leverage our long-standing relationships with national organizations such as the Library of Congress, Sesame Workshop, First Book, Girl Scouts of America, the National PTA, and more groups to produce free and fun materials for our vast educator network. We have long standing support for our popular programs in thousands of communities, which is growing every year. We’ve also built a vibrant website chockful of easy to access and print materials created by us or prominent book illustrators.

All of our participation numbers have more than tripled over the past 5 years, and corporations are coming to us for the offering support, as they see our value, outreach and prominent partnerships. Our programs rely on a diverse group of over 250,000 volunteer authors, illustrators, educators, librarians, parents, and celebrities in support of the importance of reading for children and teens, and the number of volunteers grows every year. Book illustrators compete for coveted spots as creators of original materials for classrooms. We were able to create activity pages in 10 languages last year.

Of note, we received the Eric Carle Angel Award for our 15 years of work to date and a Mellon grant for our literacy work during the pandemic.

Up next is getting even more role models to provide inspirational messages for our classroom poster project. Bulletin board-size posters of authors and celebrities, from Alicia Keys to Alex Morgan, are sent free to classrooms and libraries nationwide. Characters such as Olivia, Clifford, Yoda, and Dora the Explorer are also featured. Our newest focus is on Indigenous writers and community leaders.

A renewed ten-year partnership with the Library of Congress will enable us to get a new range of course plans about the Library and its vast collection, including many fun and rare reading resources. We will launch a new coordinated outreach to educators working with young people in juvenile detention centers and on Native American reservation schools. Video technology will allow for more young people to meet authors and role models and be inspired throughout the year.