Our Impact
OWNING A BOOK CAN OPEN UP A WORD OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR A CHILD
The term “book desert”* was coined to describe communities where children have limited access to books. It’s estimated that around 32 million children in the United States lack access to books in their homes, schools, and communities**. We believe increasing book ownership is a matter of equity.
More books in more homes equals more reading, more dreaming, more doing.
* Ref: Neuman and Moland, Urban Education 2019 Back to citation 1
** Ref: https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2020/11/04/how-you-can-help-endbookdeserts Back to citation 2
BETTER FUTURES BEGIN WITH BOOKS, AND WE ARE MEASURING IMPACT
Over a five-year period, from 2018 to 2023, we embarked on a journey to build evidence about the impact of book ownership — specifically, measuring the impact of Bernie’s Book Bank providing free, high-quality books on students’ reading achievement and other measures of reading behaviors.
In a school-level randomized, controlled trial, generously funded by Arnold Ventures and conducted by Dr. Geoffrey Borman in partnership with Milwaukee Public Schools, the study randomly assigned sixty schools to receive the Bernie’s Book Bank book distribution intervention or to a waitlist control group that did not receive the books. Over the study period, all kindergarten through sixth-grade students in the study’s thirty treatment schools received an average of approximately seven books per year (totaling 34 books), while students in the thirty control schools did not receive book distributions.
Learn More About the Study While We Await Final Findings
Arnold Ventures Summary of RCT Grant
EVERY DOLLAR YOU DONATE IS AN INVESTMENT IN CHANGING FUTURES
A $16 investment in Bernie’s Book Bank provides 8 books a year to a child. A $200 investment provides enough to support a child through the full Bernie’s Book Bank program, building a home library of 96 books.
It’s a proven investment. Books aren’t optional. Literacy is non-negotiable. If you want to make a difference in children’s lives, now and in the future, there’s no better way than to help us get books into the homes and hands of children who need them most.
Why We’re Here
32
Million
An estimated 32 million children in the United States lack access to books in the homes, schools, and communities.1
What We Do
29
million
We’ve distributed 29 million free quality children’s books and counting.
315
Thousand
315,500 children receive 8 free quality books every year, from birth through sixth grade, building a library of 96 books.
<$2.00
The average retail price of a children’s book is $13.30. We source, process and distribute a book for less than $2.00.
5
Year
Completed a 5-year Randomized Control Trial conducted with Milwaukee Public Schools studying the impact providing free books has on students’ reading achievement.4
1. ILA, Literacy Now, 2020 Back to citation 1
2. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Back to citation 2
3. Council on Early Childhood, 2014 Back to citation 3
4. Randomized Control Trial, 2018-2023 Back to citation 4
15 YEARS OF IMPACT
Latest Key Documents
Access the current important public documents for our organization. Transparency is a cornerstone of our mission and we’re committed to keeping our community informed.