Contact: Tom Best
Executive Director, First Book Canada
tbest@firstbook.org
Cell # - 416 -949-0056
1-866-393-1222 Ext 0130
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
First Book Canada Distributes Over 20,000 Books to Kids in Calgary!
(CALGARY, ALBERTA) November 13th-15th, 2012 - First Book Canada will be in Calgary this week distributing over 20,000 books to kids in need. First Book Canada is a not-for-profit organization that provides books to children from low-income families for free or very low costs. The books this week have been donated by Harlequin, Disney Publishing Worldwide, Orca Books and Simon & Schuster Canada. All books are brand new and age-appropriate for children from age 3 to young adult selections.
"Harlequin is delighted to support First Book Canada in their efforts to promote literacy by providing disadvantaged teens with much-needed books," said Donna Hayes, Publisher and CEO of Harlequin. "Most of us take the confidence and opportunities provided by the ability to read for granted, but for more than nine million Canadian adults struggling with low literacy, it's a tremendous obstacle in their lives. By making books available to children, we overcome this dilemma by opening minds to worlds of imagination, education and diversity at an early age. That way, when they are older, they are empowered to take advantage of the wealth of possibilities before them."
Tom Best, Executive Director of First Book Canada said of the distribution, " It's a wonderful feeling coming back to Calgary for all of us at First Book Canada as we have so many wonderful brand new books for children and young adults in need. We could not be happier to have books available for the first time from Harlequin, the global leader in series romance and one of the world's leading publishers of books for women. We know these books will be empowering for young teen readers. Of course we are thrilled to have remarkable books from Orca Books, Simon & Schuster Canada and Disney, all publishers who we have worked with before to get books for recipient groups' right across Canada. We are also grateful to be working out of a new facility in this city. Acculogix and their team have been just been so helpful setting up this distribution to be very effective and allowing us to reach so many new groups. So often these truly are the very first books the children get to call their own and we know that when a child or a young adult holds a book and experiences the joy a story brings, it awakens a passion for learning that delivers on the promise of a better life."
First Book Canada addresses one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books. Working with publishing partners, an ever expanding network of volunteers and book recipient groups, First Book Canada provides educators and community program leaders in high-need communities with unprecedented access to free and low-cost books. Since 2009, First Book Canada has distributed more than 500,000 new books to Canadian children in need through large-scale donations by its publishing partners. To register as a book recipient group visit us at firstbookcanada.org and follow our latest news on Twitter and Facebook .
Literacy in Canada
With more than nine million Canadian adults struggling with low literacy, First Book Canada's mission is to address this challenge at its root by providing new, age and language-appropriate books to children. A recent study shows the importance of lowering the threshold of book ownership for low income families in Canada. While three-quarters of high income households spent money on books, only one quarter of households in the lowest income brackets bought books.
The First Book Canada Effect
When children receive brand new, high quality books from First Book Canada, their interest in reading nearly triples. 99% of the schools and community-based programs that register with, and receive books from, First Book Canada report that they are able to increase and strengthen their literacy efforts and curricula as a result. Research indicates that when families participate in family literary intervention programs, full dependence on public assistance is reduced from 67% to 11%. First Book Canada addresses one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books.
