What If All Children Had Books At Home?
Children who grow up with at least 20 books stay in school 3 years longer than children without books at home.
MISSION
To ensure every child in the Amarillo Area
owns at least 20 great books at home from birth to 5th grade,
enters Kindergarten ready to learn and read, and
unlocks all the benefits of literacy.
WAYS TO HELP
Our Programs
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Storybridge, in collaboration with the City of Amarillo and privately-owned businesses and homeowners, is thrilled to help anyone in Amarillo who desires to make a tangible difference in the daily lives of our children by installing Little Free Libraries in high-need neighborhoods.
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This program was our first and remains our flagship service in the Amarillo area. It is exactly what it sounds like. Imagine attending the Scholastic book fair when you were young and being told you could choose 5-10 books to keep, and they’re all free!
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Parenting children under 5 is one of the hardest, most important jobs any of us will have. KinderBridge play groups can help in so many ways! Thanks to Amarillo ISD, KinderBridge sessions are available for FREE to the families in our community.
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Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by gifting books free of charge to children from birth to age 5. Storybridge is honored to make this program available to children residing in Potter or Randall County, thanks to all of our generous donors in the Readers Circle. ♥
At Storybridge, we believe:
EDUCATION is the only viable bridge out of poverty.
LITERACY is the vein through which all education is delivered and the ultimate equalizer.
TOGETHER we can and must get books into their homes and their hands - as many as we can and at the earliest possible opportunity!
When we do, we make early literacy accessible, we make school easier from the beginning, we throw a wrench in the cycle of poverty, and WE CAN CHANGE THE STORY for thousands of our children.
Why This Matters
The only behavior measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home.
— The Literacy Crisis: False Claims, Real Solutions
Welcome to the Book Trailer!
Providing books for kids is what we do. The Book Trailers (yes, we have 2!) make that delivery dreamy and inspiring for kids… and our volunteers! Our Book Trailer program visits every AISD elementary school allowing eligible kids to come inside and choose the best books to add to their home libraries. We also take it to many special events around the area and it travels every week during our Summer Storytime program. After a busy year, we let the trailers rest for the winter!
We are so proud of the beautiful wraps on both trailers. Big thanks to Clubhouse Trailers in Edmund, OK!
Always prioritizing choice.
Research has demonstrated that when students perceive that they have more opportunities to read what they like, they tend to have higher literacy achievement.* This is why anytime we serve elementary students, we make sure they see a giant variety of books they can choose from. As educators ourselves, we know that their individual interests are so unique! At one time, we may have one student looking for books about volcanoes, one looking for quick mysteries, and another looking for unicorns. This is why your book donations are so valuable to us at Storybridge!
*McClung, N. A, Barry, E., Neebe, D., Mere-Cook, Y., Wang, Q., & Gonzalez-Balsam, M. (2019). Choice Matters: Equity and Literacy Achievement. Berkeley Review of Education, 8(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.5070/B80037656 Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/44t3z7q3
