We Give Books Announces Read for My Summer

New York, NY – Starting today, We Give Books will help young children with their summertime reading and engage them to join the fight against summer brain drain. For 10 weeks, We Give Books’ Read for My Summer campaign will offer a special selection of books for children ages 5 through 8; provide activities and reading tips for parents; and share stories from around the world about the importance of reading and giving. As with all campaigns on We Give Books, for each digital book a child reads, the Pearson Foundation will donate a new hardcover or paperback book directly to a literacy organization serving children and families. 

Research shows that learning loss during the summer months is cumulative, and on average students can end up one month behind where they left off in the spring. We Give Books’ Read for My Summer campaign introduces great children’s books and compelling stories of reading and giving. This campaign will help parents, schools, camps, and libraries continue to offer children an exciting online reading experience, filled with captivating children’s books including Llama Llama Red Pajama, The Little Engine that Could, and Ladybug Girl and the Bug Squad. At the end of the campaign, each child will be able to create a custom reading record to share with his or her teacher and class when school resumes in the fall.

This latest We Give Books campaign joins other successful efforts that have benefited children and families throughout the United States – efforts that have included Read for My School, in which children read more than 150,000 books online in less than five days to benefit their own school libraries, and Read for the Record where readers were able to place books in neighborhood libraries in communities served by the US-based non-profit Jumpstart for Young Children.

Since We Give Books launched in 2010, the Pearson Foundation and Penguin have donated more than a million books, with a goal of donating a million more by the end of the next school year. We Give Books works with exemplary literacy partners in the United States and around the world to put books into the hands of children and families. To learn more about these partners, including Room to Read, Books for Asia, and United Through Reading, visit www.wegivebooks.org/campaigns.

“More and more classroom teachers are making use of the always free digital library at We Give Books,” said Pearson Foundation President and CEO Mark Nieker. “During the school year, young people can read books at school and at home anytime they like. Our new Read for My Summercampaign makes it easy to continue these reading habits even during the summer months. We hope that providing access to the We Give Books’ free digital library will help engage children to keep their reading skills sharp for the upcoming school year.”

To learn more about the Read for My Summer campaign, visit www.wegivebooks.org.

Media Contact:

Stacey Finkel, Pearson Foundation
(703) 304-1377
stacey.finkel@pearsonfoundation.org

About We Give Books

We Give Books is a philanthropic program from the Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation that helps children become lifelong readers and givers. Together, the Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation support literacy through programs that engage entire communities. Working around the world through programs like Booktime and Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, Penguin and the Pearson Foundation have touched millions of lives in thousands of communities. To learn more about the We Give Books program and its nonprofit literacy partners, go to www.wegivebooks.org.

About the Pearson Foundation

The Pearson Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that aims to make a difference by promoting literacy, learning, and great teaching. The Foundation collaborates with leading businesses, nonprofits, and education experts to share good practice; foster innovation; and find workable solutions to the educational disadvantages facing young people and adults across the globe. More information on the Pearson Foundation can be found at www.pearsonfoundation.org.