Chapter Seven: July News from Madison Reading Project
We’re having a lovely summer, giving away thousands of books to our community's kids, families, and educators. Our Big Red Reading Bus has been on the road and has made over 100 stops at neighborhood centers, schools, and public events.
Our book center is expanding this month to make room for more books, staff and volunteers! We’re excited to show off the updated space at our Breakfast with the Bus open house on August 16th! RSVP via our facebook event page. Our whole team is gearing up for Back to School time and is ready to host Free Book Fairs for both kids and teachers! Read below to see how you can help us support teachers building diverse classroom libraries and celebrate this exciting time of year with kids and families!
Our Year-to-Date Impact
Books given: 55,945
Kids impacted: 39,663
Community partners served: 139
Our Impact Since 2014
Books given: 433,297
Kids impacted: 259,638
July Highlights
Books for Summer Scholars
Back to School Book Fair
New to the Blog - 20 Diverse Picture Books About Summer
Books We Love
Books for Summer Scholars
This summer is our third year partnering with Madison Public Library and MSCR to provide free books to summer school scholars. Through our Free Book Fairs for elementary sites, free books, bus stops and middle school sites we’ve given over 1200 kids access to high interest books to enjoy during out of school time!
Back to School Book Fairs- Get Involved
During the month of August, our team is preparing to host Back to School Book Fairs for teachers and kids across the greater Madison area! Every year, we work alongside incredible organizations supporting kids returning to school and making the experience fun! Through these partnerships, thousands of kids and families can access backpacks, supplies, resources, and brand-new books!
We also host our Free Book Fair event for teachers, providing 500 educators with 25 brand-new books to build diverse classroom libraries! That’s over 12,000 books in three days!
Here’s how you can help us support kids and teachers:
See you on the 16th
You are invited to join us for an open house, Breakfast with the Bus! On Wednesday, August 16th, we will host the Madison community for an open house and bus event at the Book Center! 7:30- 9:00 AM.
You’ll get a morning tour of the Big Red Reading Bus and the Book Center, learn more about our work at MRP, meet the staff and MRP board members, find out about volunteer opportunities, and learn how to support our mission to ignite a love for reading. Continental breakfast and coffee will be served! RSVP via Facebook
Educator Resources
If you’re planning on organizing your classroom library this month, you may want to use this guide to deepen its diversity.
Free professional development opportunity! Join Patty Cisneros Prevo, a first-generation Latina, writer, two-time Paralympic gold medalist, and proud mom and partner, for a free webinar about centering disabilities in the classroom on August 16. Patty also works as the University of Wisconsin Health Program Manager of DEI.
Centering Disabilities in the Classroom webinar sign-up
Her new book, Tenacious, is also featured on our booklist of kids books to read for Disability Pride and beyond.
In this engaging session for elementary and middle school teachers, discover effective ways to integrate Native perspectives into your lessons at the beginning of the school year. Find more information about this August 2 virtual event below.
Don’t miss our most up-to-date list of books to read during the first few weeks of school. You can also check out some of our posts about building a classroom community and using books to facilitate conversations around identity.
Are you looking for professional development books to read with your teams? We’ve got you covered. Check out our most up to date list below.
This Spanish Resource page for educators and families includes links to read alouds in Spanish, as well as other supportive resources.
August Book List Recommendations:
Do you need a specific book recommendation? Use this link to ask MRP for a book recommendation! (Note: this list is for book recommendations only, not book requests)
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