Blog, Press, and News!

Our Book Harvest family recently lost a dear friend and colleague. Ashley McClure, Senior Associate Program Director of Books on Break and Books for K, died on October 9 after a short, fierce illness. She was 41. She believed every child should feel seen, supported, and celebrated. She made the rest of us feel that way too. We will miss her deeply, and we are so grateful for everything she gave us.

This October, every kindergartner in Durham Public Schools will choose 10 brand-new books to take home and keep. Book Harvest and Durham Public Schools (DPS) are partnering to bring Books for K to all 32 DPS elementary schools, the first time the program has reached every kindergartner in the district.

We are demonstrating, over and over again, what becomes possible when we lead with abundance instead of scarcity, with hope instead of fear.

By the time a North Carolina toddler turns 2, there's a 40% chance they already have their own tablet.

At some point during the day, a child picked up a book -- the one millionth book provided through Books on Break -- and carried it home.

On consecutive days in April, Books from Birth launched at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana and Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Our 2025 Impact Report is a celebration of book joy -- of children choosing their very own books, of families snuggling up to read one more story, of a community full of people who believe, fiercely and joyfully, that every child deserves a home library filled with books they cherish.

Book Harvest's Books in a Box program can't close the physical distance between an incarcerated parent and their child. But it can build something across that distance—a shared story, a nightly ritual, a reason to call and connect. This is something I've believed since we launched the program in 2023, which delivers a home library of 20 new books directly to children who are experiencing the incarceration of a parent.

I'm writing to you today with a heart so full I can hardly contain it. Book Harvest’s 15th annual MLK Day Dream Big Book Drive and Community Celebration, held at Boxyard RTP on Monday, January 19, felt historic—in three ways:

Every January, something familiar and wonderful happens...

A home library transforms how a child sees themselves as a reader.

Book Harvest has secured a three-year philanthropic commitment to expand our Books from Birth program at Maynard Children’s Hospital and ECU Health Foundation, in partnership with ChildTrust Foundation and an anonymous donor!

This summer, we witnessed something extraordinary across North Carolina.

It's a season full of new beginnings--and this year, those beginnings come with something brand new: Books for K.

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