A Letter from the founder

It is easy to assume everyone grows up more or less the same. Why wouldn't the average kid have a shelf of books to thumb through every night before bed? All the kids I knew growing up did. Until that interview, all the kids I had met reporting in Virginia seemed to as well. But it wasn't until I began reporting in Cincinnati, Ohio that I gained a whole new appreciation for that seemingly ordinary book shelf at the end of my childhood hallway.

The facts are sobering. Children who are not exposed to books at an early age do not perform the same as their book-in-hand counterparts and are 3 to 4 times more likely to drop out of school. Once the critical learning gap has closed by the time they enter school, studies show it is nearly impossible to rehabilitate them back to grade level. They fall behind in school. Grades suffer, self confidence spirals downward as they struggle to keep up with their peers.

We have the power to change this--one child and one page at a time. Promising Pages collects new and gently used children's books targeting toddlers and young school children. We clean them up and redistribute them through a variety of social service agencies. The process is a win, win. There are so many kids who have outgrown these wonderful and imagination inspiring pages, and there are so many others who would love to read them. Our goal is that every child in America will have a shelf full of bright and shiny books they can read over and over again. We also want every parent to realize the impact daily reading can have on their own child's overall development.

Help us help the youngest Americans, one child, one book, one page, one mind at a time.

Thank you very much for your support.

Sincerely,

Kristina Cruise
Founder
Promising Pages