Book Drive for Kids began in 2017, started by two Dallas moms, Michelle and Nicol. What set everything in motion was a student who said he didn’t know reading could be something you do for fun. To him, it was a chore.
He’d seen the shelf of books in his classroom, but he couldn’t imagine ever owning enough of his own to need a shelf at home. This led Michelle and Nicol to realize how many low-income families don’t own a single children’s book.
They began organizing book drives with schools, churches, and community groups, sorting every donation and giving the books away at free, school-wide fairs, so kids across Dallas–Fort Worth could build libraries of their own.
Brooke Terry volunteered with Book Drive for Kids while still living in Dallas and saw the impact up close. She moved to Austin and, a couple of years later, launched the Austin chapter in April 2021.
Brooke and her husband have a heart for children in foster care, and became certified to provide respite care. When she set out to bring books to kids in the foster care system, she learned that foster organizations only accept new books. What she noticed changed everything.
A brand-new book made a child feel special. They loved being able to choose a book that had not belonged to anyone else.
Today, every book at a Book Drive for Kids Austin book fair is brand-new.
Brand-new books cost more, so our book fairs cost more to run. When a child feels special, we know it’s worth it.
Our goal is a 20-book home library for every child we serve: two or three books a year, every year of elementary school.
We partner with Title I elementary schools where 70%+ of students are economically disadvantaged or 40%+ are English Language Learners. We reach the highest-need schools first.
Latino 82%
African American 10%
White 4%
Asian 2%
Other 2%
My favorite part of the event is when a child squeals with delight when they find out that they get to keep the book forever. For many of my students, Book Drive for Kids supplies their very first book of their own. I love seeing their faces light up.
See what your support made possible across Austin book fairs last year.
Previous reports: Austin Community Impact 2023–24 (PDF)
Hi, I’m Brooke Terry, founder and director of the Austin chapter of Book Drive for Kids. From strategy and fundraising to school partnerships, volunteers, and the events themselves, I get to be part of every step, and I love it.
Before starting the Austin Chapter of Book Drive for Kids, I worked as a policy analyst in state and federal government, where I spent years studying education policy. The more I dug in, the clearer one thing became: being able to read, having books within reach, and actually owning books of your own can change the whole trajectory of a child’s life. It shapes how they do in school and far beyond it. I want every child that I meet to discover that reading is fun and to put a book in their hands that they can’t wait to read.
I grew up volunteering through National Charity League, and that’s where I first saw how much good nonprofits can do. I’ve been a reader since elementary school, and these days you’ll usually find me in the middle of a great book.
I live in Leander, Texas with my husband and our two teenage sons.
Your company could be here. Sponsor a school or email [email protected].
6,700+ students are on our waitlist.
A $3,000–5,000 gift funds a complete book fair. Every student chooses a brand-new book to take home.
Questions? Email Brooke at [email protected].
