Growing up I was fortunate to have access to books at home. My home library was filled with a variety of titles and genres—including duplicate copies of books my brother and I both favored. However, there are many children around the country who have never owned a single book. To help get books into the hands of children, Scholastic is proud to work with My Very Own Library (MVOL), a literacy program dedicated to putting books into the hands of children in need.
Today, Scholastic and the MVOL program have announced their expansion to serve low-income children in six different communities. Throughout this school year, the My Very Own Library program will support:
- Twenty-three schools in Newark, NJ, serving 15,000 students with 150,000 books (Partner Organization: Foundation for Newark’s Future and United Way of Essex and West Hudson)
- Making Waves Academy in Richmond, CA,serving 750 students with 7,500 books (Partner Organization: Making Waves Foundation)
- Three schools in Chicago, Illinois,serving 1,248 students with 12,480 books (Partner Organization: University of Chicago Charter Schools)
- Eight schools in Wilmington, Delaware,serving3,000 students with 30,000 books (Partner Organization: United Way of Delaware)
- Ten schools in Milwaukee, WI,serving3,420 students with 34,200 books (Partner Organization: United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County)
- Twenty schools in the Dominican Republic,serving 2,000 students with 25,000 books (Partner Organization: Dream Project)
In total the MVOL program is making it possible for more than 25,000 low-income children who may have never owned their own book to choose the books they want to read from their school book fairs for free. According to the latest Kids & Family Reading Report, 90% of kids ages 6 to 17 say they are more likely to finish a book they have picked out themselves.
By the end of this school year, each participating student will have 10 brand-new books of their own to create their home library.
