
Together, we’ve put over 100 million new books into the hands of children who need them, and we’re counting on your support this holiday season. This year, thanks to our friends at Disney, the impact of your gift will be tripled!
Every $2.50 donated to First Book provides one brand-new, high-quality book for a child from a low-income family. And Disney has agreed to match every one of those books with two additional books, from now through the end of the year. Click here to donate.
As always, when you donate to First Book, you can be sure your money is being used wisely; 97% of donations to First Book go directly to provide new, high-quality books to kids in need. (That’s how we won our four-star rating from Charity Navigator.)
Thanks for being part of our work, and happy holidays from everyone at First Book!


I work for the University of Texas at Dallas and we hold day camps for homeless children each summer. For the first time ever, at the end of the camps last summer, we handed out a book to each child. They were beyond thrilled. They held onto those books like little treasures. They asked me to “sign” their books with my name and their name so that everyone would know that the book belonged to them to keep.


Martha’s Table has a special place in our hearts here at First Book. Not only is it a terrific program that does an enormous amount of good for children and families in our home town of Washington DC, it’s where First Book was born twenty years ago, when Kyle, then a corporate lawyer volunteering in her spare time, realized that the children she was working with had no books of their own at home. She founded First Book, along with two friends, to ensure that those children, and others, would have access to the books they needed.
As first-responders are working to provide these families with electricity, water, and other critical resources, First Book—in partnership with our local volunteers and partners—is raising funds to restock school and home libraries. After distributing more than 5 million books in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we know new books can be valuable lifelines for those whose worlds have been turned upside down. 
Another benefit? The publishing industry is much more willing to create the kinds of books these programs need when we can show them 35,000 potential customers; books like bilingual versions of award-winning titles, and “high-interest, low-level” books (titles that are written at a lower reading level for kids who are behind, but still focused on topics that will interest them; an eighth-grader reading at a third-grade level won’t become a strong reader if we can only offer him books about third-grade topics).
Exciting news! There are now 35,000 schools and programs serving kids in need in the First Book network. That’s 35,000 classrooms, libraries, church groups, afterschool programs, homeless shelters, military programs and daycare centers; all with permanent, ongoing access to a steady stream of brand-new, high-quality books.

The problem we’re working to solve is the lack of access to books and educational materials for kids from low-income families. The schools and programs they attend usually don’t have the resources to buy new books, and neither do their families. So these kids miss out on the single most important thing they need to become strong readers and successful students. And many of them lose their chance to become the scientist, engineer, electrician, doctor or teacher that they have the potential (and desire) to become. When that happens, we all lose.
(In the piece, Byrne recognizes First Book’s president, Kyle Zimmer, and her contributions to this important way of thinking. But that just proves that he’s on the right track.)