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We hope you’re sitting down, because we have some big news. Today at D23, the annual gathering of the world’s Disney fans, in Anaheim, Calif., our friends at Disney announced that they were donating 8 million new books to First Book. And we will put every single one of those books into the hands of kids in need.
Eight million books is a lot of books. To give you some idea of just how many, if you laid them all end-to-end, you would definitely give up and go home long before you were done. To give you an even better idea, First Book distributed 8 million books altogether last year; Disney’s incredible donation will allow us to do a lot more in the year ahead.
To top it off, Disney is also donating $500,000 to First Book, which will help us cover some of the many expenses involved in getting all those books out to schools and programs serving kids from low-income families around the country.
So a big THANK YOU to our friends at Disney, from all of us at First Book, and from all of the kids in all of the 27,000 programs in the First Book network!
Remember, if you work for a school or program that serves children from low-income families, or if you’d like to help your child’s teacher or program leader get new books, sign up with First Book.
Thanks for a great blog. The kids love Disney so I try to keep up to date with whats happening.
That’s great, guys!!
As chair, First Book East Coachella Valley (#422), in the past year I have contacted all elementary schools in the local school district to encourage them to register with First Book. To my knowledge, only two schools have registered. However, the majority of schools have not, in part due to the rapid turnover in teacher staffing and stretched-thin administrative support resulting from severe cuts in school funding in the past two years. The 8 million books from Disney will be a great incentive for the schools to sign up with First Book, and I will contact them again. Question: will schools still have to pay the 35 cents per book shipping charge, or will the Disney grant be used to pay for shipping?
Thank you.
Hi Mario!
To the best of my knowledge, we haven’t finalized our plans for Disney’s generous donation. The books will be available throughout the coming year, so keep your eye out for offers of free shipping and other opportunities.
I am so glad you are doing well. Do you have a program in Lexington, KY? There is a brief program around Christmas, but I think that is all.
Hi Marge,
First Book is a national program, so we welcome schools and programs from anywhere in the country. Especially Lexington!
Your school, library, classroom or community program can get books from First Book year round. Sign up at http://www.firstbook.org/receive-books and you’ll be eligible to use the First Book Marketplace. PLus we’ll email you about opportunities for free books, which we have pretty regularly.
I love First book and have been getting books for the children here in the metro Detroit area for a number of years. Our children look forward to getting new books that they can take home. Thank you Disney for your support generous donation. Books and literacy go hand in hand.
Thanks, Ora, and thanks for all the work that you do. Without you, and hard-working teachers and educators like you, none of these great books would ever get into the hands of kids.