Launching Children Into a World of Reading
BookSpring was recently awarded a grant from the MAXIMUS Foundation. This foundation awards grants to local community organizations with programs and projects in the areas of child and youth development, health, and community development. “It’s an honor to provide BookSpring with a MAXIMUS Foundation grant that will enable such a deserving organization to continue its […]
GE Aviation of Austin hosted their first volunteer event with BookSpring. Over 70 employees helped build literacy through the community on Tuesday, December 20. “We have been in Austin (as GE) for a little over 4 years. This is the first time we’ve done a volunteer event,” said GE Flight Data Engineer Patrick Thornton, adding, […]
BookSpring and the Junior League of Austin (JLA) teamed up for another successful Coats for Kids’ community fair book distribution on Saturday, December 10 at the Palmer Events Center. Junior League members collected over 10,000 books over the course of the year. 8,000 books were distributed in Austin, and the rest were given at the Del […]
BookSpring’s Clinics & Health Partner Manager Cynthia Ivey was elected as Vice President of Community Partnerships of The Community Health Champions Alumni Leadership Committee for 2017. Community Health Champions is an initiative by Central Health to bring together diverse and informed community members from across Travis County to learn about, discuss, and collaborate on the work […]
Our communities are strongest when we build them in ways that ensure the well being of all residents. BookSpring meets our clients where they are, through our community partners. BookSpring trainers are certified through the Texas Trainer Registry (Texas Early Childhood Professional Development System). They equip childcare professionals, teachers, parent support specialists, and healthcare workers […]
Tis the season for giving, giving what you can to make a difference! Austin University Area Rotary Club members give the most precious gift of all, their time. Every Tuesday and Thursday Rotarians volunteer at JJ Pickle Elementary, a title one school located in Northeast Austin. They work closely with librarian Anita Sigler who facilitates […]
There is something almost magical about encountering a book you simply cannot put down. A book that leaves you longing for answers of what lies ahead for the hero or heroine of the story. A book with such an enthralling story that your way of viewing the world is completely changed. BookSpring is determined to […]
Wow, what a difference! In May 2016, various organizations partnered with us at Forbes Child Inc. in order to bring new life to our lobby. The vision of our lobby became the vision of not only one person, but a collaborative inclusive one with our staff and families in mind. Our lobby transformed into a […]
by Mateo Ibranji A new study based on big educational data found that after many years of efforts by numerous literacy programs, we are collectively as a nation making progress in fighting child inequality in the classroom. The report which was written by multiple professors of education and social work, states that the evident performance […]
By Nancy Kelly This year, approximately 1,200 Junior League of Austin members will complete a staggering 100,000 volunteer hours for over 30 local community projects. One of those programs is BookSpring. I am one of the ten JLA members who are lucky enough to be spending their year working with BookSpring. For the 2016-2017 year, […]
By Natalie Kelly Be The Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story is the recently published follow up to 2014’s Grandfather Gandhi. Local author, Bethany Hegedus and Arun Gandhi, Mohandas K. Gandhi’s grandson, wrote both books. Bethany Hegedus will be speaking and signing copies of her book this weekend at BookPeople. It is fitting that she is […]
By Amanda Shaver On Fridays this summer, BookSpring collaborated with the Housing Authority for the City of Austin (HACA) to provide books and story times for the children who attended the HACA/Capital Area Food Bank’s summer meal program. Spending this time with the kids ended up being one of the highlights of my summer for […]
By Haley Justiz Ever since I was a little girl, I have always spent my summers volunteering. Throughout the years, I’d hop from organization to organization, until I finally found BookSpring: it was love at first, well, book donation! A little something about me: I love to read. And that is quite the understatement, because […]
By Jill Gonzalez I remember wonderful hours spent under a makeshift tent of blankets and our picnic table under the shade of a beautiful oak tree reading the books I had found at the library. That tent was a magical place, only to be ventured out of for Kool-Aid, or maybe a Popsicle if it […]
By Lili Cantu At BookSpring, we have spent some of our summer getting some continuing education and preparing to offer continuing education courses for other organizations. I was privileged to present a session along with my colleague, Jill Gonzalez, at the 6th annual Texas School Ready Institute, titled Moms, Dads, Kids and Books: Working and […]
by Mariela Rodriguez BookSpring and the Andy Roddick Foundation (ARF) partnered up in an effort to battle the summer slide through the foundation’s 2016 Summer Learning Program at Pecan Springs Elementary. The foundation operates a six-week summer learning program with a focus on STEM, literacy, arts, and sports. The overall goal of the program is […]
by Mariela Rodriguez Here at BookSpring we are always eager to learn about the latest reading strategies and to uncover newly released children’s books! On Thursday, July 21, the Reading Summit for Educators was held by Scholastic in San Antonio, Texas. Two staff members and I hit the road that day eager to mingle with other […]
For over 40 years, BookSpring has worked tirelessly to close the literacy gap in Central Texas. Promoting a love of reading from infancy is our objective, in order to make book sharing and reading aloud an integral part of daily family activities. Building on this history, BookSpring continues to redefine our organization’s identity and increase […]
On Monday May 2nd, BookSpring presented a Philantropitch at the ZACH Theatre in downtown Austin to a lively audience and a panel of socially conscious entrepreneurs to expand our pediatric literacy services. We were grateful to be the recipients that night of $11,000 from Mission Capital and the audience choice award, $10,000 through our friends […]
The 4th Annual Storybook Heroes Luncheon is THIS Friday! Get Tickets Here…
by Morgan Brown I wanted to share one of my recent experiences as a BookSpring volunteer! A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to volunteer with Ms. Collier at the Galindo Elementary School Literacy Night. The theme of the event was based around the book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura […]
by Cynthia Ivey La translación en español puede ser encontrada aquí. We all know that reading is an essential building block for literacy, but what if English is not your first language or not a language you speak at all? The need for Spanish and bilingual (English/Spanish) books for children in and around Travis County […]
por Cynthia Ivey The English translation can be found here. Todos sabemos que aprender a leer es fundamental para combatir el analfabetismo. Hay muchos libros en inglés. Pero ¿qué si inglés no es su primer idioma, o un idioma que usted no habla? Esto no es un problema nuevo. La necesidad de libros para niños, […]
by Mateo Ibranji 54% of parents do not read aloud A new survey shows how far we have to go to encourage parents to read aloud to their children. Conducted by Read Aloud 15 Minutes, a national campaign to increase reading aloud at home, the report shows that fewer than half (46%) of parents read aloud to […]
Submitted by: Vickie L. When I was a little girl, it was my dad who read to me every night before bed. We sat in his little den, which consisted of floor to ceiling bookshelves, every square inch of which was lined with books. The furniture in the room was an antique desk and his […]
by Emily Ball Cicchini, Executive Director I recently passed an anniversary with BookSpring. I cannot tell you how blessed I feel to have been given the honor of carrying forward this worthy vision of creating a more literate future for all our children. Every day of each year, BookSpring has been delivering books to children […]
Introducing a child to reading is one of the most rewarding events anyone can experience, and people like Emma DeBoer, a former BookSpring employee and now a librarian, strive for these gratifying moments. Ms. Emma DeBoer sat down with BookSpring and revealed some of the key moments and ideas that a Bookspring employee or volunteer […]
