This Determined Family Is Bringing Diverse Books To Children All Across The Country

Concerned about the lack of diversity in children’s books, Charnaie Gordon and her two kids are bridging the literacy gap with their new project that brings diverse books to children in each of the 50 states.

Gordon founded the Here Wee Read platform, which highlights diversity in children’s books, featuring multiple races, cultures and religions. The curated books also teach children about important subjects such as immigration and politics.

Through 50 States 50 Books, Gordon and her two children are sending these significant books to non-profit organizations, libraries, schools, and more, to every state in the country.  Gordon also has plans to donate new books to children’s hospitals.

 

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My little brother and I are committed to doing our part to help close the early #literacygap by donating 50 #diversebooks to each of the 50 US states by December 31, 2020 (or sooner). • Right now we’re on track to complete our 4th state by the end of this month. We’d love to know about your projects or different ways you may be helping serve children in your community or nationwide. Let’s connect! 👇🏾#50states50books #closethegapfillthemap #bookbed #bookpile #bookhaul #libraryhaul #bookstack #earlyliteracy #literacyadvocate #kidled #kidleader #blackkidmagic

A post shared by 50 States 50 Books (@50states50books) on Aug 20, 2018 at 4:55am PDT

Since launching this project, Gordon tells Huffpost that several people have felt inspired to help, and have bought titles from Here Wee Read’s Amazon Wish List, which includes multiple sections such as “Juneteenth Books,” “Asian Picture & Chapter Books,” and “Latino/Bilingual Picture Books.” As 50 States 50 Books continues to grow on social media, the project has caught the attention of the Hatchette Book Group, who plans to donate an outstanding 800 books to the cause.

The Gordon family will likely be able to complete their impactful mission in 2019. To follow their progress and for more information about donating, please visit 50 States 50 Books on Instagram and their official website, 50states50books.net.

 

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Here’s a snapshot of our progress to date. You can always see a list of all the states and organizations we’ve donated to so far by visiting our website (linked in our bio). • There you can also see our book wishlist, read about the impact we’re making on the community, apply to receive our book donations, donate monetary funds to help us pay shipping costs, and see a bar chart 📊that shows the total number of books we’ve collected for each state so far. Have you received one of our state book donations? Say hello in the comments! 👇🏾 • Please help spread the word about our project as we continue to close the literacy gap and fill the map, one state at a time; one book at a time. Thanks in advance for your support. Let’s go, Arizona! #50states50books #closethemapfillthegap #50states #literacyadvocate #literacymatters #representationmatters #diversitymatters #kidsbookstagram #raisingreaders #earlyliteracy

A post shared by 50 States 50 Books (@50states50books) on Oct 13, 2018 at 6:32am PDT