Books for Keeps has three core focus areas that guide our programming efforts. Click through below to learn more!
‘Stop Summer Slide’ Book Distributions
Our flagship program, Stop Summer Slide!, provides 12 books per child in the elementary schools we serve. We provide a collection of exciting, contemporary books to children who may not have access to them over summer break, leading to them falling grade levels behind their peers in reading comprehension. Each year, Books for Keeps serves:
2023 Spring Book Distributions!
Join Books for Keeps this Spring for Book Distributions at your neighborhood school! We’ve now selected dates to attend each of our service schools and need your help staffing each one to help get more books to more kids in the 5 counties we serve.
View dates for distributions and how to register by clicking through to our blog here.
Reach out to Info@booksforkeeps.org for more info!
Literacy Mentors
The BFK Literacy mentor program partners with Creature Comforts Brewing Company’s Get Comfortable program, and Clarke County School District to engage the community in creating excitement around reading and forming supportive relationships to collectively help increase the number of 2nd and 3rd-grade students at H.B. Stroud Elementary School who are reading on grade level.
What is Literacy Mentoring?
Literacy Mentoring is the pairing of a community member with a 2nd or 3rd-grade student for the duration of the school year, with time spent reading and working on reading activities in the classroom.
Research shows that reading with a child for 30 minutes a day astronomically aids in reading proficiency. The goal is to have every student in the program receive a total of 21 hours of one on one time with their BFK Literacy mentor over the duration of their school year.
Mentors can choose to support the goal of 21 hours by committing to a regular schedule to visit with their student(s) during their reading block. Literacy Mentors are not asked to stay for the entirety of the reading blocks, rather they are the windows in which mentors are permitted in the classroom to meet for 30 or 60 minutes.
How is it going?
Interested in becoming a Mentor?
At this point, we have all the students identified for the program matched with a mentor (or two)! However, we will absolutely need mentors this upcoming school year. Fill out our interest form and we will let you know when applications open for the 2023-2024 school year!
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Clarke County
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library been an asset to our community’s children in building a life-long, foundational love of reading.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, regardless of their barriers to book access.
At Books for Keeps, giving children in Clarke County and their families access to literacy resources is our focus. The first five years of a child’s life represent a critical developmental stage. Per data evaluations, children who receive these books score 10% higher on kindergarten literacy evaluations than their peers.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Program helps us reach the county’s youngest residents and grow their love of reading!
