AN OPEN BOOK FOUNDATION
5901 Utah Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20015 anopenbookfound.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: An Open Book Foundation was established by children's booksellers Heidi Powell and Dara La Porte in November 2010 with the goal of promoting literacy among low-income children and teens in the greater Washington, DC area. We bring award-winning authors and illustrators into disadvantaged schools and give each child a signed copy of the author's book. We also give books to classrooms and the school library. These talented authors donate their time to provide dynamic, interactive experiences including writing workshops, book readings, literacy-based art projects, and the creation of permanent school murals. After the event, the author personalizes copies of his or her book, usually engaging in a conversation with each student. It is this personal connection to literature that makes AOB's mission unique, and its programs successful at getting children to read.

Bringing authors, illustrators, and their books to Washington, DC area students in low-income settings to spark a love of reading.

An Open Book Foundation's mission is to connect authors, illustrators, and their books with Washington, DC-area students to build equitable access and nurture a lifelong love of reading. Our vision is that children see themselves as readers who can express themselves in the visual and written arts. An Open Book brings authors and illustrators to schools where at least 50% of the population qualifies for federal Free and Reduced Meals (FARMs); typically nearly 85% of students qualify for FARMs. Authors/illustrators present engaging book talks and interactive writing and drawing demonstrations and AOB gives every student attending the event a copy of the author's book to add to their home library. School and classroom libraries receive a set of the author's titles. Since our first event more than ten years ago, we have given over 90,000 books to students and schools at over 1,100 school visits where authors and illustrators made over 2,000 presentations. During presentations, authors interact with classes; while signing student's books authors engage in one-on-one conversations with each student. These talented authors and illustrators donate their time to provide dynamic, interactive experiences including writing workshops, read-aloud, literacy-based art projects, and the creation of permanent school murals. Meeting professional book creators can introduce students to a future career path they may not have otherwise considered. Students can imagine themselves as writers or artists when they meet authors and illustrators who look like them. It is critical that all children discover not only creators but characters and storylines that share their life experience or culture. Furthermore, with the addition of books to homes and schools, library circulation increases, home libraries expand, and children's enthusiasm grows. When the global pandemic forced schools to shift to distance learning, AOB quickly retooled our existing programs and initiated a few new ones to continue to fulfill AOB's mission. For the remainder of the school year and throughout the next, we connected students with virtual author/illustrator visits and books with deliveries for pick-up at their schools. An Open Book added two new initiatives to help schools and students at the start of the pandemic: deliveries of leisure reading books for students and an online educators' resource guide. Between mid-March and June, we delivered 5,621 carefully curated books to 39 of our partner schools for distribution during meal and packet pick-up. An Open Book has several programs in addition to our flagship program, providing author/illustrator school visits. 1. AOB's artist-in-residence program connects book illustrators and writers to second and fifth graders for multi-lesson events. This program is funded by a grant from the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities. 2. Our New and Emerging Artists of Color Program amplifies the voices of new and emerging BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color) authors and illustrators. The pilot phase of this new program focuses on Black artists, providing additional opportunities for the students we serve to see themselves in books and in the creators of those books. This program is funded by a grant from the Sendak Foundation, which also provided funding to purchase books from local Black-owned bookstores. 3. After selected events, AOB returns to schools with a follow-up extension activity. These activities explore how books act as catalysts to action and investigation and deepen students' experiences with the authors' and illustrators' books they received. Using lesson plans developed by our education coordinator and/or one of our nonprofit partners, students engage in a variety of activities that further investigate an aspect of their book and/or a connection to their current curriculum. 4. AOB's book group program, or Book Acquisition Team, has three goals: jump-start a book group that the librarian will sustain independently; strengthen students' advocacy skills on behalf of school literacy initiatives, and provide students with books to read for the group and to add to their home libraries. Students write simple grant applications (in groups and individually) to AOB for books for themselves and the school library. AOB has a cadre of staff with vast experience as librarians, teachers, and booksellers, who scour literary publications and publisher grids to identify the best authors and books for the students we serve. We are therefore able to match an author's talents and a book's subject matter with a given grade's unit of study.

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