News & Events
I cannot attend, but would like to make a gift
Book Up Summer
On the final day of the 2012 school year, Page Ahead gave 20,000 new books to kindergarteners and first graders throughout Seattle and Highline schools districts.
By partnering with School’s Out Washington and Scholastic, and with a generous gift from Target, Page Ahead provided these mini-libraries to nearly 1,700 young readers. The group was diverse as well as large, but from urban neighborhoods in Seattle, to rural towns in Yakima Valley, to immigrant communities in Burien, participating students had one thing in common: their families were less likely to have books at home than were high-income households elsewhere.
Page Ahead developed the BOOK UP SUMMER! program informed by recent research. Studies indicate that differences in children’s resources at home corresponds to achievement gaps at school and, moreover, that the gap widens in summer months outside the classroom. By providing students with their very own books, Page Ahead secured crucial literacy tools for students whose access to reading material might otherwise terminate with the school year.
Page Ahead expressed its appreciation of families’ role in children’s literacy by including another surprise with the new books a voucher for two free tickets to a Mariners game! Over 200 students and families participated, and two lucky students joined Page Ahead’s Executive Director Susan Dibble on the field and the Jumbotron!
The books given away this summer will help students keep up their reading skills during the summer, and return to school in the fall ready to learn.
Barnes & Noble Bookfair
On Saturday, June 23rd the Downtown Bellevue Barnes & Noble will donate a percentage of all purchases to Page Ahead! Stop by to support Page Ahead! True crime writer Ann Rule and her daughter Leslie Rule speak and sign their books at 2:00 pm. Can't attend our bookfair at Barnes & Noble? Go to BN.com and support us online from 6/22/12 to 6/28/12 by entering book fair ID 10798569 at check out!
I cannot attend, but would like to make a gift
Best Books for Kids Awards
The Best Books for Kids awards celebrate the talent of the authors and illustrators without whom Page Ahead could not fulfill its mission of giving quality new books to children in need. We hope the Best Books for Kids Awards will serve as a guide to teachers, librarians and parents in making quality literature accessible to children.
And the winners are:
We Are in a Book! by Mo Willems
How to Clean a Hippopotamus by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill
The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester by Barbara O'Conner
This year's nominees were:
Read Aloud:
LMNO Peas by Keith Baker
Bink & Gollie by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee
A Sick day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead
Non-fiction:Yucky Worms by Vivian French
The Bat Scientists by Mary Kay Carson
Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature by Sarah C. Campbell
Lizards by Nic Bishop
Multicultural:
Dear Primo, a Letter to My Cousin by Duncan Tonatiuh
Chalk by Bill Thomson
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama
Big Red Lollipop by Rukhsana Khan
Our judges for this year's awards are experts in children's literature, drawn fro across Washington State: Rene Kirkpatrick of Third Place Books, Seattle; Cecilia McGowan, children's services coordinator of King County Library System; Marilyn Carpenter, professor of literacy, Eastern Washington University and author of The Children's Book Compass Blog; and Stefanie Malone, community outreach manager at KCTS television, Seattle.
View our current book drives »
View our archived news.