Oakland Book Distribution with Mathical, Oakland Literacy Coalition, & Bookelicious

Bring Me a Book is proud to announce that 42 Title I schools and organizations including classrooms, libraries, and extended learning programs in Oakland, California received sets of 10 Mathical Book Prize titles in grade-level bands, and a book cubby in which to store the books.

A total of 130 sets of books was distributed by the Bring Me a Book Foundation and the Oakland Literacy Coalition with the assistance of Bookelicious. The books are provided thanks to the generosity of the Firedoll Foundation

The books, spanning PreK to 12th grade, range from picture books to youth biographies of mathematicians, from chapter books to novels, spanning imagination, big ideas, current social issues, science, drama, and puzzle-solving.

These lively books showcase the joy of math in the everyday world. They are meant for classroom use, to enrich the classrooms and libraries of schools in need in Oakland.

A list of winning schools can be found below.

  • 3Ls: Literacy, Leadership & Liberation
  • Achieve Academy
  • ASCEND Elementary School
  • Aspire Berkley Maynard Academy
  • Aspire Lionel Wilson College Prep
  • Aspire Monarch Academy
  • Aspire Triumph Technology Academy
  • Bella Vista Elementary
  • Bridges Academy at Melrose
  • Burckhalter Elementary School
  • Castlemont High School
  • Cox Academy
  • Edna Brewer Middle School
  • Elmhurst United Middle School
  • Emerson Elementary
  • Franklin Elementary School
  • Frick United Academy of Language
  • Garfield Elementary School
  • Grass Valley Elementary
  • Highland Community School
  • Hoover Elementary
  • Horace Mann Elementary School
  • International Community School
  • Kaiser Early Childhood Development Center
  • Korematsu Discovery Academy
  • La Escuelita School
  • Laurel Elementary
  • Lazear Charter Academy
  • Learning Without Limits
  • Lincoln Elementary School
  • Lockwood Child Development Center
  • Madison Park Academy (Grades 6-12)
  • Manzanita Community Elementary School
  • Manzanita SEED Elementary School
  • Markham Elementary
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary
  • Oakland Academy of Knowledge
  • REACH Academy
  • Skyline High School
  • Think College Now Elementary
  • Urban Montessori Charter School
  • Urban Promise Academy

The Mathical Book Prize recognizes math-inspiring literary fiction and nonfiction for very young children through high school students. The book distribution will help promote math as an exciting subject that’s more than numbers and equations. 

Explore the full Mathical List – sort by age level – here.

National Consortium: Year Two

In the fall of 2021, the Bring Me a Book National School Consortium launched an action research study to determine the necessary personal, social, and environmental factors that help children develop a sustainable reading routine in a school setting.

Access to Books
Our goal is book abundance—children need access to books (and lots of them) wherever they are—in their homes, classrooms, schools, and in their communities.

Reader Agency, Identity, and Choice
Children are twice as likely to read a book they have chosen themselves.

Time to Read and Talk about Books
Reading is social. Children thrive as readers when they have time to read their books—as well as talk about them with others, particularly, with their peers.

Family Engagement
Families are children’s first teachers—and their influence on children’s reading lives is immeasurable, especially when parents model their own reading lives and create a reading culture in the home.

Teacher Professional Growth and Leadership
Teachers who share their own joy of reading have the greatest impact on their students; as scholar Shirley Brice Heath once wrote, “The single most important condition for literacy learning is the presence of mentors who are joyfully literate people.” But teachers and administrators also need access to current multi-dimensional research as well as time to absorb professional information, to meet and discuss the implications with their colleagues; and time and support to implement innovative and impactful practices in their own classrooms (Routman, 2018; Renwick, 2022).

Community Engagement: Partnerships with School and Public Libraries
Libraries are our “literacy equalizer” and “social safety net” (Farmer, 2021) because they are free, open to all, and offer the resources we need to live, learn, and thrive. High-achieving schools tend to have rich and extensive library collections— staffed by professional librarians—and more students who read frequently (Lance & Kachel, 2021).

Year Two
Our School Consortium launches October 5—and for the most part, our nine participating schools have found a way to match our grant. In this way, the leadership of each school is supporting book abundance and making a commitment to student book choice and time for pleasure reading and talk about books.

Texas Teachers Book Grants – Applications Open Now!

Applications are now open for the Texas Teachers Book Grant!

Bring Me a Book’s mission is to help ALL children develop a healthy reading habit with support in the classroom, community and at home. We believe that when we help all children thrive through the joy and power of reading, we leverage literacy to create a more humane and hopeful world for us all.

In keeping with this mission, Bring Me a Book will award 50 book grants to Texas teachers, sponsored by our partner, H.E.B. Grocery Company.

We will award:

  • 48 Grants of $375
  • 2 Grants of $1,000

Teachers will receive a credit at Bookelicious (sign up here) where they will be able to purchase books for their classroom!

Applications will remain open until all funds are distributed. Winners will be announced weekly, beginning September 13. To apply, you must be a classroom teacher in Texas, and 80% of the awards will be given to teachers in Title 1 Texas schools.

If you have been selected as a winner, you will need to complete a few simple steps to claim your gift certificate within 5 business days of your notification email. If the steps are not completed by the date provided, a new name will be drawn and your name will go back into the pool.

Apply here today!

Patagonia Palo Alto Book Launch

August 14th, we had the great pleasure of tabling at a book launch at the Palo Alto Patagonia store. Children listened to a bilingual reading of Patagonia’s new book, Better Than New / Mejor Que Nuevo. We look forward with continuing to work with Patagonia in new ways.

View and Download our curated environmental book collection below.

Afghan Book Distribution

Bring Me a Book is partnering with East Coast nonprofit mEducation Alliance to distribute 5000+ children’s books in Dari and Pashto to Afghan refugee populations in California through our Bring Me a Book programming. We are currently working to partner with even more local Afghan refugee support organizations.