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The Book Fairies provides access to books to students in high-need districts through the following keystone programs:
Community Book Fairs
PROBLEM: 58% of our participating teachers at high-need schools do NOT have libraries in their buildings.
SOLUTION: Teachers in need of books for their students often must pay out of their own pocket. This can become overwhelming and expensive. The Book Fairies provides educators the opportunity to fill their bookshelves with reading materials specific to their classrooms’ needs.
Every month, The Book Fairies opens our doors for up to 75 educators and nonprofit leaders who serve high-need populations. Participants are invited to take as many of our carefully sorted books as they can over a 1.5 hour time slot. They fill bags, bins and suitcases with exciting new reading materials for their classrooms. At the end of a 3 hour fair, between 12,000-15,000 books fly out of our warehouse! If you are a teacher in a school in Long Island or the metropolitan NYC area that has at least 50% of your students qualify for reduced/free lunch, and would like to get notifications to sign up for our Community Book Fairs, CLICK HERE.
PROBLEM: Most children living in high-need areas do not have age-appropriate books to call their own. Brand new books on average cost $11.00/book, which is cost prohibitive for many families.
SOLUTION: The Book Fairies brings the magic of a traditional book fair to schools in need.
Once a month during the school year, The Book Fairies brings a large selection of brand-new books for students to shop through. Every student gets the chance to wander through the fair to select two books of their own to bring home at no cost. There is a wait-list for this exciting program, email Sherry McGrath at sherry@thebookfairies.org for more information.
Free School Book Fairs
Summer Totes
PROBLEM: Students who do not read over the summer lose reading gains taught the prior year and often never catch up.
SOLUTION: Provide 5 self-selected, high interest books to children in need to encourage summer reading and keep their literacy skills on-level the following year.
Summer Slide is a well-documented problem, and is especially prone for children in disadvantaged communities. Teachers often have to spend the first three months of the new school year re-teaching reading skills from the year before. Children in high-need communities often lack access to libraries or do not have any books at home to read over the summer. Studies show that children who read at least 5 books over the summer do not experience the “slide” and has the same impact as attending summer school. Similar to a Free Book Fair, The Book Fairies offer children the opportunity and the end of the school year to choose 5 books at their reading level along with their own tote bag to keep.
