Reading Tips

This year promises a lot of exciting enhancements to BookSpring’s research-based and time-proven efforts to increase the love of reading in young children and their families. First, we’re pleased to announce the creation of three new positions: BookSpringRx Director, BookSpringEd Director, and BookSpringGo Director, being filled by Cynthia Ivey, Wayne ...

A group of local authors are lending their support to BookSpring's efforts.  They will be the featured guests at our Benefit Luncheon in April 21 at the Westwood Country Club.  Learn more about these fascinating writers right here in our own backyard. Bethany Hegedus’ books include the award-winning Grandfather Gandhi ...

Volunteers from WE Communications pose with McBee Elementary Librarian Heather Stephens after spending the day volunteering in her library. WE Communications employees here in Austin have been volunteering with BookSpring for the past three years, and they very rapidly earned the distinction of “the GT Group”--that’s Gifted and Talented for ...

My first involvement with Ana Menchaca was through her Girl Scout troop. They volunteered to work on a project the Rotary Club of Austin was coordinating for BookSpring. The girls collected gently used books from their friends and classmates, took the donation to BookSpring, and prepped the books for distribution ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

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%) ...

by Mateo Ibranji “The book club has helped me to open a dialog with my boy about what's in a book, proper library behavior, proper treatment of a book, and how to use a book/library to find information.” – Delia, Parent Book Club This quote from a participating parent (name ...

by Mateo Ibranji Our mission statement here at BookSpring has always been centered on helping children and their families achieve a new level of success through reading. We support and inspire parents and caregivers to read aloud and engage with children through language every day, and this summer, we plan ...

by Sophia Toprac Kwanzaa, the Pan-African Diaspora Holiday, is a great time to read a book about this unique holiday to a child! The week long holiday spans from December 26th to January 1st and is a time for African-Americans to reconnect with their roots, and with each other, by ...

Best wishes from all of us at BookSpring to the whole community of readers! We will close Dec 22 and reopen on January 4. The drop box can accept book donations throughout the holidays ...

Shop and drop off books with our friends at The Goodard School. THIS Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Only! 1905 El Salido Parkway, Cedar Park, TX ...

You can support BookSpring this week! BookPeople Flyer Your book purchase will help us purchase books for children and families in need—right here in Austin! Please bring this flyer to BookPeople (603 North Lamar) any time between November 1-7, 2015 Present this flyer with your purchase to the cashier at ...

Pictured: Kazique Prince from the City of Austin, Emily Ball Cicchini and Drew Scherz from BookSpring Weds Oct 28, 2015: To celebrate BookSpring’s achievement in delivering its one millionth book to children of Greater Austin, community leaders, such as First Lady of Austin Diane Land, Superintendent Paul Cruz and Senator ...

by Sophia Toprac An article recently published by the New York Times that discusses recent studies that reveal the benefits of reading aloud to your child. The article points to studies done across the nation that found that the three main traits that all the most voracious young readers seems ...

"Babies are born with the instinct to speak, the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don't need to train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different." — Steven Pinker A house without books is like a room without windows. — Heinrich Mann ...

by Emily Ball Cicchini, Executive Director My home was one of the many hit by the Texas Memorial Day floods. We are only now getting everything back in order, thanks to many helpful friends and services, particularly two burly men from Stanley Steamer and two helpful home inspectors from FEMA ...

There is something totally inspiring about a person who dedicates their life to a mission that is impossible to complete. A mission impossible, if you will. Lynda Johnson Robb is one of these people. Speaking at the BookSpring Storybook Heroes Luncheon on May 6, 2015, she recounted how her interest ...

Submitted by: Hannah and her amazing mom I started reading Madeline to my daughter Hannah when she was tiny, around 2 months old.  We'd read it two to three times a week before bedtime until she was at least 2-and-a-half, and still read it very frequently. She learned so much ...