Gently Used Books Needed for Premier Children’s Book Festival
Posted on January 20, 2025Johnstown, PA (January 20, 2025) – If reading to a child was a favorite pastime in your home, chances are you have boxes of children’s books collecting dust—when they could be instilling a love of reading in another child.
The Learning Lamp is collecting gently used children’s books for its 16th Annual Children’s Book Festival on March 29 and 30. Each year, parents of children from birth through grade 6 attend the regional festival, drawing in over 6,000 families with young children who add to their home libraries with children’s books donated through our used book sale.
Did you know that according to the U.S. Department of Education, 61% of economically disadvantaged children have no books in their homes? The average child growing up in a middle-class family is exposed to almost 1,700 hours of one-to-one picture book reading time, yet in contrast, children in under-resourced households are exposed to less than 25 hours with a parent or caregiver.
You can help! The Children’s Book Festival puts books into the hands of young children of all incomes so they can start reading early. During the month of February, anyone can drop off children’s books at The Learning Lamp’s main office at 2025 Bedford Street, Johnstown, PA 15904. In addition to individual families donating books, The Learning Lamp invites area businesses to join in the fun by holding book drives of their own. For larger donations, please call us to arrange a pickup. Gently used, newer children’s books only, please! No textbooks, encyclopedias, or books that are ripped or written in.
Help us help little readers foster a love of reading early! For more information, contact Kerri Belardi at kbelardi@thelearninglamp.org or call 814-262-0732 x245. You can follow the 16th Annual Children’s Book Festival on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/CBFJohnstown.
The Learning Lamp is a nonprofit organization with a mission to engage all children in the support they need to succeed. We deliver high-quality programs that are affordable and accessible to families of all income levels. In 2023, The Learning Lamp and our school-based division Ignite Education Solutions directly served 37,524 children and adults. In addition to our own program locations, we worked with 87 public and private schools in 36 Pennsylvania counties. We also supported 473 child care and community-based youth organizations with free or nearly free shared resources, positively impacting another 44,190 children statewide.
Our programs include: child care and preschool, after-school programs, tutoring, SAT prep, school staffing, alternative education programs for at-risk students, online learning, credit recovery, drug and alcohol prevention programs, and grant writing and project consulting for schools.
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