News

We are overjoyed to introduce the B3 Books App, a groundbreaking resource for fostering early literacy and a love for reading among Texas families. This free app, available on both Apple and Android devices, is not just a library of diverse digital books in English and Spanish, but it's also ...

Exciting news! BookSpring is honored to have received the Nonprofit Impact Award at the Greater Austin Business Awards, hosted by the Austin Chamber of Commerce. This event, which celebrated the resilience and excellence of local businesses and nonprofits, returned on October 10th. This recognition underscores BookSpring's unwavering commitment to community ...

We are thrilled to share the incredible news that BookSpring has been honored as a 2023 Literacy Awards Winner by the Library of Congress. This prestigious recognition is a testament to our commitment to advancing literacy and fostering a love for reading in children and families.  Recognition of Excellence The ...

By: Jeannine Herron, et al. In this overview, learn how early literacy benefits from both print-to-speech and speech-to-print instruction, creating connections in the brain that link new knowledge about the alphabet to what children already know and are continuously learning about words. Introduction Recently there have been many discussions among ...

Congratulations to Gail Wihelm, the lucky winner of the Smart TV Time Raffle. And a huge thanks to everyone that participated! Your support helps us provide books to the children that need them most.  Raffle Description: All BookSpring Smart TV Time Raffle proceeds will help us deliver books to the ...

BookSpring is proud to be a partner in literacy with BookPeople. BookPeople has been the leading independent bookstore in Texas since 1970. Located in the heart of downtown, BookPeople has been voted best bookstore in Austin for over 15 years. BookPeople was voted Bookstore of the Year by Publisher’s Weekly ...

250+ guests from across the business, community, and political spectrum joined us for our annual Storybook Heroes fundraising luncheon -- and made a huge six figure difference in the lives of families across our community. And we are eternally grateful to  our very special guests, Dr. Art Markman and Dr ...

Do you want to contribute in a unique and meaningful way to our mission? We love to distribute books that are written by or for underrepresented people, because all children deserve the chance to see themselves reflected in the books they read. However, it costs about three times the amount ...

By Joel Gross  Photos by Tyler Schmitt / The Mill Photography BookSpring is excited to announce the launch of Summer Success, a new full-scale program designed to address the widespread drop in reading skills that occurs in economically disadvantaged elementary students over the summer. Research has shown that over 80 percent ...

Over Half of Austin Children Reading on Mobile Devices A wide body of research consistently shows that reading is one of the most important indicators of personal and professional success, and yet, historically we have known very little about why children and families choose to read. Now, a new reading ...

BookSpring’s van has been hitting the streets throughout Central Texas to get resources needed to children and families through partners already serving them. Tools that will ensure they read and succeed together. With thousands of books constantly flowing in and out of our office, we are keeping home libraries growing ...

(Pictured above: Executive Director Emily Ball Cicchini, President Ann Gass, Immediate Past President Chris Randazzo) BookSpring was pleased and proud to honor some of our long standing board members at our May board meeting, on Wednesday, May 24th. We are blessed with an outstanding board and are always sad to ...

BookSpring has just completed preliminary evaluation of the pilot Read For Success program in Central Texas and the results are very encouraging. The program is designed to reduce the summer slide, a phenomenon where children’s academic skills, including reading, decline during the academic year break. According to Reading Is Fundamental ...

BookSpring hosted its annual luncheon on April 21 at the Westwood Country Club. Its charming early 1900’s architecture, hand painted ceiling, and Mexican title floors set the ideal ambience for the 119 BookSpring guests. Total amount raised was nearly $20,000, representing over 8000 new children's books for Central Texas families ...

There is something almost magical about encountering a book you simply cannot put down. A book that leaves you longing for answers  of what lies ahead for the hero or heroine of the story. A book with such an enthralling story that your way of viewing the world is completely ...

Wow, what a difference! In May 2016, various organizations partnered with us at Forbes Child Inc. in order to bring new life to our lobby. The vision of our lobby became the vision of not only one person, but a collaborative inclusive one with our staff and families in mind ...

By Amanda Shaver On Fridays this summer, BookSpring collaborated with the Housing Authority for the City of Austin (HACA) to provide books and story times for the children who attended the HACA/Capital Area Food Bank’s summer meal program. Spending this time with the kids ended up being one of the ...

by Mariela Rodriguez BookSpring and the Andy Roddick Foundation (ARF) partnered up in an effort to battle the summer slide through the foundation’s 2016 Summer Learning Program at Pecan Springs Elementary. The foundation operates a six-week summer learning program with a focus on STEM, literacy, arts, and sports. The overall ...

BookSpring is proud to announce that the The Moody Foundation has granted a $20,000 gift toward our ReadWell program, which aims to improve family literacy through book distributions at doctor’s offices. The goal is to transform the early childhood well check experience into a reading experience year-round for families. ReadWell ...

On Monday May 2nd, BookSpring presented a Philantropitch at the ZACH Theatre in downtown Austin to a lively audience and a panel of socially conscious entrepreneurs to expand our pediatric literacy services. We were grateful to be the recipients that night of $11,000 from Mission Capital and the audience choice ...

BookSpring recently received a generous donation of over $600 from our wonderful benefactor, Little Book of Words. BAB-GAB Little Book of Words has a simple way to help fight illiteracy and open doors for children in need: Buy A Book - Give A Book (BAB-GAB). Every time you buy a ...

Our very own Clinics & Health Partner Manager at BookSpring, Cynthia Ivey, has been appointed to participate in the inaugural group of Community Health Champions for 2016! Community Health Champions is a new Central Health initiative to bring together community members who want to improve access to and the quality ...

BookSpring is proud to be partnering with Pollyanna Theatre Company to present Pattern People, January 23 – 31, 2016 at the Long Center for the Performing Arts. This new play for young audiences, written by our very own Emily Ball Cicchini, explores a day in the life of two very ...

Our friend and librarian site coordinator Kay Gooch was featured in today's issue of the Austin American-Statesman! We are all lucky to have passionate people like Kay working with Austin's youth. Click below to check it out! Follow this link to the Austin American-Stateman's website: http://www.mystatesman.com/news/entertainment/gullet-librarian-kay-gooch-is-a-reading-rock-star/npxLG/ ...

Authors Chris Barton and Jennifer Ziegler are celebrating the release of their two latest children’s books at a holiday event at BookPeople in Austin, TX on Saturday, December 5th.  They are proud to use the event to promote the Giving Tree program. Find out more on the event's FaceBook page: ...

Pictured: Kazique Prince from the City of Austin, Emily Ball Cicchini and Drew Scherz from BookSpring Weds Oct 28, 2015: To celebrate BookSpring’s achievement in delivering its one millionth book to children of Greater Austin, community leaders, such as First Lady of Austin Diane Land, Superintendent Paul Cruz and Senator ...

Four of Bookspring’s board members have just completed their terms. Each has made significant personal and financial commitment on behalf of Austin’s children, and their service over six years has been invaluable. Margene Beckham served on the Storybook Heroes events committee. We are proud to have benefited from her 30+ ...

Reading aloud is the single most important thing a parent or caregiver can do to improve a child’s readiness to read and learn. While BookSpring focuses on bringing reading experiences to young children in the greatest financial need, all parents and children can benefit from practicing reading aloud every day ...

We are excited to announce that our 2015 Storybook Heroes Luncheon...in the Hundred Acre Wood will feature guest speaker Lynda Johnson Robb. Join us for this special event Wednesday, May 6, at the Radisson Hotel & Suites Austin Downtown, 111 E. Cesar Chavez. We are celebrating 40 years of reading ...

Austin, Texas – Two Austin nonprofits launched the Windsor Park neighborhood in northeast Austin into a world of reading – through art. Local nonprofits, BookSpring and the Jet Method of Exchange (JMOE) teamed up to fuse literacy with art at a mural unveiling on September 26. Based on reading themes ...