Scholastic Book Clubs and best-selling author James Patterson partner to launch a new program that will provide 32,000 students in Title I schools with increased book access!
Today the Associated Press exclusively announced that Scholastic Book Clubs has officially launched The United States of Readers, a first-of-its-kind program dedicated to bridging the gap of literacy and book inequity. Created by Scholastic Book Clubs and funded in its pilot year with a $1.5 million donation from author James Patterson, The United States of Readers will provide 32,000 pre-K to 8 students in 1,500 classrooms across the country with increased access to quality books that they can choose, own and most importantly, love!
“At Scholastic Book Clubs, we have been working with classroom teachers in every state in the country for decades, and are proud of how our book order forms have created an affordable way to reach kids with the books they want to read. It’s become increasingly clear, however, that in so many communities around the country even our affordable offerings are out of reach for some families, and teachers are having to pay for the books themselves. We knew we needed to come up with an alternative to our tried and true model, because every child needs to be able to choose and own books, and see themselves as a reader! The United States of Readers does just that,” said Judy Newman, President and Reader-in-Chief of Scholastic Book Clubs.
According to the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report: 7th Edition, kids who are frequent readers have nearly twice the number of books in their home libraries as infrequent readers, with a similar inequity between high- and low-income families. The United States of Readers marks an evolution in Scholastic Book Clubs’ ongoing partnership with author James Patterson by directly growing home libraries.
“I’ve been working my entire career to get kids reading because I believe that illiteracy is one of the biggest challenges our country faces. And in many cases, kids simply need access to books—and especially books they want to read—to fall in love with reading, characters, and stories. Through my partnership with Scholastic these past seven years, we’ve made some great strides to do that. And I’m particularly excited about this new program as it will bring books to those schools and communities that need them the most, and ones that we haven’t served before. I know that reading changes lives, and I hope that The United States of Readers will not only help bridge the gap in literacy inequity, but really make an impact on the lives of young kids,” said James Patterson.
To learn more about The United States of Readers program, visit: https://unitedstatesofreaders.scholastic.com/
