Charity Partners
Reach Out and Read
2024 Charity Partner
Reach Out and Read was founded in 1989 to help families make reading a part of their routines, and to supply the books they need to get started. Since those early days at Boston City Hospital (now Boston Medical Center), the program has grown dramatically: They are now in all 50 states, with 6,200 program sites that provide 7.1 million books each year.
Reach Out and Read is a national nonprofit that champions the positive effects of shared reading and engaging in other language-rich activities with young children. Reading with a parent or caregiver promotes healthy brain development, furthers language acquisition, and helps families build meaningful bonds.
Their network of pediatric teams provides families at routine check-ups with the knowledge and tools they need to make reading a part of their daily routine. By integrating reading aloud into pediatric care, they reach 4.4 million children across the country—with more than three-fourths of whom come from low-income families.
They strive to make reading a part of every child’s life and help provide all young people with a foundation for success throughout their lives.
See their website for more details about Reach Out and Read: https://reachoutandread.org/
Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.)
2023 Charity Partner
Reading Education Assistance Dogs® (the R.E.A.D.® Program) is the first literacy support program to utilize the known benefits of interaction with animals to inspire a love of reading and books—through the presence of a warm, trustworthy, non-judgmental listening companion. Thousands of children in schools and libraries worldwide have been benefitting ever since. R.E.A.D. has licensed more than 7,000 practitioners throughout the U.S. and in 27 other countries.
R.E.A.D. focuses on children aged 4 to 8, when it’s crucial for them to learn to read so they can read to learn forevermore. Participating kids make enormous strides in reading and communication skills, while along the way building self-esteem, confidence and social skills. And there are other benefits—performance in other subjects tends to improve, as does motivation, attendance and even personal hygiene.
Science and test scores confirm that R.E.A.D. has the power to change a struggling child’s future, one book and one dog at a time.
See our website for lots more details about R.E.A.D.: https://therapyanimals.org.
San Juan Community Library – Puerto Rico
2022 Charity Partner
San Juan Community Library will celebrate its 35th year of service in 2022. Life without a public library is unthinkable for those of us who support free access to the information available in books and computers. Everyone deserves a community library to count on and to call home.
We are the only lending library open to the public in the capital city of Puerto Rico. We serve a diverse population of children, young adults and adults. Our patrons and visitors come to us from San Juan, neighboring cities and from cities across our island. We are the only public library in San Juan offering a digital branch with over 6,000 e-books and audio books along with 45,000+ ebooks from the public domain.
Books purchased with Picture Book Summit’s donation in 2018 occupy a special Picture Book Summit shelf in the library!
“Bless all the authors of Picture Book Summit for your continued support and generosity. This is amazing news!!!! We already have ideas what to do…for example, expand our collection of Who Is and What Is—the kids love these books!!”
Connie Estades
Executive Director of the San Juan Community Library
Executive Director of the San Juan Community Library
Read in Color
2021 Charity Partner
Read in Color is a new initiative bringing diverse books to Little Free Library book-sharing boxes around the world. Read in Color distributes books that provide perspectives on racism and social justice; celebrate BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized voices; and incorporate experiences from all identities for all readers. Less than 25% of children’s books depict non-white characters. We believe everyone should be able to see themselves in the pages of a book. We also know that books can be a window into experiences that are different from our own. By reading diverse books, we can increase understanding, empathy, and inclusion. Our donation will buy 200+ books!
Find out more at https://littlefreelibrary.org/read-in-color.
The Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc)
2020 Charity Partner
Our 2020 Charity Partner is The Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc). Binc is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that coordinates charitable programs to strengthen the bookselling community. Established in 1996, the core program provides assistance to store employees and owners who have a demonstrated financial need arising from severe hardship and/or emergency circumstances. Since its inception, the organization has provided over $9 million in financial assistance and scholarships to more than 9000+ families. Support for the Foundation’s programs and services come from all sectors of the book and comic industries. The Book Industry Charitable Foundation’s mission is to strengthen the bookselling and comic retail community through charitable programs that support employees and their families. The Foundation was imagined and built by booksellers and proudly continues to be their safety net. It is our vision to be a caring community of book and comic people.
Additional information can be found at http://www.bincfoundation.org.
Project Night Night
2019 Charity Partner
Founded in 2005, Project Night Night (PNN) is an award-winning Bay Area-based nonprofit organization that equips children ages 0-12 living in homeless and low-income situations with the essentials they need to be ready to learn, to feel less stressed, and to be reminded of their value. While meeting the immediate needs of disadvantaged children, Project Night Night also sets a foundation for lasting change by providing meaningful, hands-on volunteer opportunities to hundreds of individuals and organizations each year.
Find out more at projectnightnight.org.
San Juan Community Library – Puerto Rico
2018 Charity Partner
To our Picture Book Summit Friends,
We are the only public library serving the capital of San Juan. Adults and children from other cities island wide also depend on San Juan Community Library. Our mission is to promote enthusiasm for reading, research, and cultural enrichment.
We have a hard copy lending collection of 30,000 bilingual titles and a virtual lending collection of 4,500 eBooks and audiobooks along with over 53,000 virtual titles from The Project Gutenberg (books in the public domain). We offer classes, meeting spaces, free access to computers, complimentary WiFi, and other vital library services. Our online branch is an important component of our summer reading program. This program has for many years now successfully motivated our children to read during the summer months.
While we and our island recover from Hurricane Maria, we are grateful to be experiencing an upswing in usage. Libraries are among the most important organizations for sustaining a democratic and educated society. The public library is truly an instrument for positive transformation.
In fact, we are very pleased to share that during 2017, the year of Hurricane Maria, when we did not electricity for five months(!) we circulated over 1/3 of our bilingual collection of 31,000 titles. Who said libraries are dinosaurs?! How could the only lending library open to the public in San Juan be a dinosaur? How could the only lending library in Puerto Rico be extinct? Our children and young adult collections are the most circulated genres in our library. The donation from Picture Book Summit will help us to continue serving the children and adults whom rely on our public library.
We know the difference that we make in the lives in our community. It makes our days worthwhile when we’re told that we have been a life saver.
And, now, you are a lifesaver to us. Thank you so much! We are eternally grateful.
Connie Estades
Executive Director of the San Juan Community Library
Executive Director of the San Juan Community Library
Harrison Elementary
2017 Charity Partner
The students and staff are so grateful to have been the recipients of the Picture Book Summit donation. With the generous donation we have been able to provide high interest books as well as more up to date non-fiction books. The students and staff were able to make suggestions and wish-lists, which were fulfilled due to the donation. The opportunity to purchase desired books is greatly appreciated by all!
Heidi Brown
Principal, Harrison Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary
2017 Charity Partner
Lincoln Elementary School (LES) is a Pre-K through grade 5 school in New Britain, Connecticut where 725 students are educated each day. The student population is a multicultural environment where all learn from each other’s unique cultures and traditions. The Consolidated School District of New Britain that houses Lincoln Elementary School has been flat funded for the last 7 years which has dramatically impacted staffing and school materials.
As a result of this continual financial struggle, LES students are in need of current reading material and improved classroom libraries. The student body consists of over 72% free and reduced lunch students resulting in households that are not able to provide quality reading materials for their children which only strengthens the schools need to provide quality reading materials. Lincoln is full of excited anticipation for our new relationship with Picture Book Summit!
Reading Partners
2016 Charity Partner
Reading Partners mobilizes communities to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade. Reading Partners know that reading is the foundation for all future learning, and the ability to read transforms lives and empowers children and communities to reach their full potential. Research shows that students who read at grade level by fourth grade have a greater opportunity to succeed in school and in life. That’s why they partner with under-resourced schools and engage volunteer reading partners to work one-on-one with students who struggle with reading.
Reading Partners is honored to have been chosen as [The Picture Book Summit] beneficiary for 2016. Picture Book Summit’s generous donation will help Reading Partners support 11,000 readers in the upcoming school year.
Reading Partners
Find out more at readingpartners.org.
We Need Diverse Books
2015 Charity Partner
We Need Diverse Books is a grassroots organization of children’s book lovers that advocates essential changes in the publishing industry to produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people. Putting more books featuring diverse characters into the hands of all children is their mission, and their vision is a world in which all children can see themselves in the pages of a book. You can learn more here: weneeddiversebooks.org
