Help RCS teacher and librarians update and expand their collections with diverse books! Shop our Amazon Wishlist of books requested by teachers, or donate directly via PayPal to help Free to Read fill their requests.

With your help, teachers are making sure every student has access to affirming and inclusive texts.

Books will be delivered to teachers in early October.

Thank you for your help.

Pride in the Park will be here before we know it (June 24!), and Free to Read wants to be part of the celebration! But to do that, we need some help.

Here is our vision: a Free Little Pride Library, where people can choose an LGBTQ book (free or for a donation); a make-your-own blackout poetry station; reading lists and info about book censorship; and lots of fun swag. Maybe an "I Read Queer Books!" selfie station too if we can swing it.

We’ve been scrounging up as many used books as we can, but could use a lot more. So if you have LGBTQ books that need a new home, we'll take them! Or, a donation of money will help us buy them from Scholastic at a deep discount through our literacy partnership. If you'd rather pick your own new book or help us with some specific supplies, I created a shopping list too.

When the event gets closer, we'll put out a call for volunteers as well.

Any help you can provide is deeply appreciated. Let's celebrate Pride with LGBTQ books!

Paypal: https://tinyurl.com/f2rpaypal

Wishlist: [https://tinyurl.com/f2rpride]

• throughout March: March Reading Madness—pick your favorite books in our brackets

• throughout March: Daily Reading Challenges

• March 11-18 shop our online fundraiser at Sidetrack Bookshop with code FREE2READ

• March 14 6-8pm Sidetrack Bookshop Social —in person shopping and socializing at the store

• March 18 Sidetrack Bookshop in-person shopping day fundraiser with with code FREE2READ

OPTION 1

Gildan Softstyle unisex T-shirt - Sport gray (heather gray) $20 for sizes S - XL; $22 for size 2XL; $24 for size 3XL -

fits true to unisex size, soft material makes it less boxy than regular T-shirt

OPTION 2 - Gildan Ultra Women’s T-shirt - Sport gray (heather gray) - $23 for sizes S - XL

fits SMALL! Check out size charts to make sure you order the right size

We will take orders until Sunday, August 14. The shirts will be printed locally. When they are ready, we will arrange a pick up day, place and time. If you will need your shirt mailed to you, please message me to arrange that. If you would prefer paying with cash/check, please message us to arrange that as well.

Click here to purchase — Be sure to include your NAME, which OPTION shirt you want and what SIZE in the PayPal note!

Reseach tells us that the best way for kids to become readers is to give them the freedom to choose their own books! Help F2R create mini-libraries of NEW diverse titles so teachers can expand and update their classroom collections of choice reading books.

Books that represent diverse perspectives and experiences act as mirrors (allowing students to see stories like their own) and windows (building empathy for people whose stories are different). A story (lots of stories!) for every kid is our goal.

Shop our Amazon Wishlist and donate new elementary, middle grade and YA titles to RCS teachers.

Help new teachers to RCS in the 2022-23 school year build a classroom library! We are looking for donations of gently-used books for all levels—pre K through high school—that we can provide to new teachers. We are looking for old titles, new titles (in last 5 years), popular titles, fiction, non-fiction, (some) reference books, series books, etc. And the more the merrier! A typical recommendation for how many books a teacher should have in a classroom library is around 20 per pre K or elementary student, if space provides. Middle school and secondary teachers typically have around 100-200 books in their classroom libraries.

Classroom libraries are recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English as a best practice for literacy instruction, and Michigan’s Essential Practices for Disciplinary Literacy Instruction also ask “teachers to provide access and regular opportunities to read with a wide range of texts…of varying complexity, structure, and genre.” Research has shown that students having access to a large variety of books, being allowed to choose their own books, reading more and reading more often, and reading independently correlate to increased vocabulary and comprehension skills and contribute to reading confidence and enjoyment, especially for reluctant readers. School libraries are great, but students do not have access to them everyday as part of their ELA instruction. That’s why classroom libraries—right there in the room where kids are learning reading and comprehension skills—are so important!

We will be announcing some local drop-off events around Rochester before school starts in the fall. If you are not local and would like to contribute, contact us at freetoreadrochester@gmail.com and we will organize a pick-up.