Behind the Book’s mission is to strengthen literacy in students from low-income communities with programs that bring books to life. Working directly in the classroom, in partnership with the teacher, our expert staff develops programs around a specific piece of contemporary urban literature and its author. A series of workshops builds on the book and approaches the writing process from every angle, bringing the book to life for the kids. With books in their hands and inspiration in their classrooms, kids read, write, and illustrate their own stories.

Behind the Book serves New York City public schools - exclusively those at which 75% or more of the student population lives at or below the federal poverty line. Our programs are designed to strengthen reading engagement, which literacy professionals identify as a key criteria needed to develop reading, writing and communication skills. All Behind the Book programs are incorporated into class curricula and meet Common Core Learning Standards.

We work closely with each classroom’s teacher to select an author whose book will resonate with students, reflect the classroom’s diversity, and match the students’ capabilities. We develop a custom program centered on the book, and transition the reading material into writing projects. Programs incorporate more than author visits – there are writing coaches and research aides; arts projects and field trips. Many culminate with Behind the Book designing and publishing an anthology of the students’ work and providing copies for each student to keep. We gift books to the students and donate additional books to the classroom and school libraries.

This school year, we are working with nearly 2,000 students, and have committed to distributing over 10,000 books.


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