As part of Scholastic’s global literacy campaign,Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life., we’ve identified organizations that work every day to see that children learn to read, love to read, and have access to books. We call them “Literacy Champions”and we want to acknowledge their hard work here on the blog in our Literacy Champions series. 

For many families, owning even a single book is considered a luxury. Reach Out and Read, one of Scholastic’s longstanding literacy partners, is there to fill those gaps.

The evidence-based nonprofit organization promotes early literacy and school readiness by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud by working with 28,000 pediatricians in all 50 states. Dr. Meghan Treitz of Child Health Clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado shared a recent story:

“I was seeing a 5-year-old old girl for her well-child checkup…I walked in with a brand new book and told the girl and her mother, ‘You know, we give a brand new book at each well-child visit through the age of 5 as a part of a program called Reach Out and Read.’ The mom interrupted and said, ‘Oh yes! Last year you gave us The Ugly Duckling. It was the first book we ever owned at our house. We read it every night.’

She then looked over at the girl, who was paging through the book, and with such excitement in her voice, said,  ‘Now we’ll have TWO books at home!’

It shows how important Reach Out and Read is to our families, but it still breaks my heart to think that for some families, two books is such a luxury.”

Help make reading part of everyday life and not a luxury. Go to Reachoutandread.org to find a location near you.

Anyone who helps a child to read is a Literacy Champion in our book, and we invite you to join our growing list of people committed to supporting childhood literacy. You can also support a Literacy Champion near you—browse a full list on our Read Every Day Lead a Better Life. site.