First Book works tirelessly throughout the year to provide new, high quality books to students in need. One of the true pleasures of this work is to know that volunteers, organizations, and communities across the country are working toward the same goal.
Recently, we received a wonderful letter that highlighted the incredible creativity of one such group.
MJR Marketplace Di
gital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, Michigan, does an annual movie promotion event to benefit an organization of their choice. This year, the movie theater used its promotion for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to help bring books to kids through First Book.
During the movie’s opening weekend, several of the theater’s managers and staff created a wonderful display of Bilbo Baggins’ iconic home, Bag End. One employee went above and beyond to dress up as Gandalf the Grey himself and posed in photographs with patrons for a small donation.
As a result of their hard work and imaginative fundraising, the night turned out to be a huge success. They combined the donations from the weekend with the funds from a year-long soda can recycling program to raise a total of $1,384.66 to help put books in the hands of low-income students.
The staff successfully combined the excitement of a fan base for a movie premiere with the
compassion of their audience to help students across the country. It serves as a high bar for the rest of us and makes us think: what are some creative ways we could help the students in our own communities?
If the tale of The Hobbit has taught us anything, it’s that you can never underestimate the impact of a small band of friends. In the wise words of Gandalf the Grey: “I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.” In this case, let’s pretend the ‘darkness’ he is referring to is illiteracy. First Book could not be happier to have such great friends, with innovative ideas, along to way to create a generation of successful readers!



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At First Book, we do everything in our power to make sure that kids from low-income families are getting the books they need. So we don’t just drop a box of used books off at the door. We work hard to make sure we offer Newbery and Caldecott winners, popular titles, books that kids want to read. The books are always brand-new, and we let the educators closest to the children make the decisions about which titles their kids will respond to.
We already work closely with leading publishers to provide new books for teachers and program leaders serving children in need. Last year we purchased three million new books from major publishers, which we made available – at significant discounts – to the 50,000 schools and programs in our national network, through
Students from Los Molinos Elementary School and four other schools in the Northern California area all participated in a yearly breakfast with Santa event. In past years, students received little gifts from Santa and his elves. This year, students received the gift of reading.
