I am thinking about the beautiful proposal from Dr. Wendy Grolnick, Diana Leyva, and Thelma Ramirez to continue our powerful impact research funded by The Rockefeller Foundation, and study for the first time ever in our literacy world: how and why children choose the books they do from the United States of Readers flyers—what personal views and opinions they bring to their choices, how they will develop their choosing muscles, and to observe the freedom to express themselves about all aspects of their lives, which kids cultivate in this process all school year. 

As I turn on the television to watch the WNBA play their end-of-season games, I think about who would fund this groundbreaking study for us.

I am also thinking about the elected officials, the private individual philanthropists, and the foundations who are all contributing funding to Impact Reading so we can reach our goal of delivering 10 free books of their choice to 10 million children—most of whom live in book deserts and attend under-resourced schools and have no access to choose and own their own books and build their home libraries. 

And to also deliver 25 brand-new free books to each classroom teacher in the United States of Readers program and free, relatable literacy materials to all families and caregivers to support their children’s reading proficiency and literacy development. 

Book choice and access provide unparalleled motivation for reading for all kids to practice the skills they learn in school. If kids don’t have the opportunity to practice reading, they cannot become proficient readers. If they don’t get to choose the books they are supposed to be reading, they are unlikely to be motivated to read.  

As Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever breaks another WNBA scoring record, I think about how we can recognize our funders to show our appreciation for the contributions they are making to our country—and to inspire other funders and allies to follow suit.

I have nightmares about the literacy crisis in America—how 70% of children in our country cannot read proficiently by fourth grade, which sets them on a pernicious and inevitable track of underemployment and lack of self-esteem, a great likelihood of ending up in prison, and intractable poverty and marginalization. I cannot sleep. I cannot stand the thought that, just because these kids attend schools without enough resources, they will not have the chance to become readers.

I left my corporate job at Scholastic, where I worked for 33 years as President of Book Clubs and Chief Impact Officer, because I know we have an efficient, proven solution—involving students, teachers, and families—to break the illiteracy cycle and stop my nightmares. I am so anxious to take the results Impact Reading is already seeing with the 30,000 children we are currently serving to the whole country and the 10 million children who need us all to help in a way that works to develop reading proficiency.

I am up late watching the game and rooting for Caitlin Clark, who is also working with us as a Literacy Champion to spread the word about Impact Reading. Caitlin has a new children’s book coming out in the fall, and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart has a new book coming in the spring, and I would love to include both in our USoR flyers. 

But sometimes (well, every day to be honest) in the middle of all these heady thoughts about changing the face of literacy in America once and for all, about finding partners and funders and allies to help us do this incredibly important work, what I start to obsess about is the jumbo chocolate chip cookies sitting in my freezer. Those cookies are waiting for me to finish my responsible meal of salad and protein. I stock up on them from Guidos in Great Barrington, MA, and they are delicious. Periodically, I sample other chocolate chip cookie brands, and lately I’ve had some pretty good runners-up (I’ll share my cookie list another day). But for now, I am working down the supply I have purchased from Guidos. I put them in the freezer because I like them slightly frozen. (It also prevents other folks in my house from stealing them.)

The stress of leaving a steady-paying corporate job and working remotely with a dedicated team—but without a physical office to go to—who need and want Impact Reading to be a huge success; constantly thinking about raising funding and sharing the terrible news about illiteracy in the US without making people feel awful—is not for everyone.  

But it is for me. Since I was in fourth grade at the John Ward School in Newton, MA, choosing Blueberry Summer and Meet Corliss Archer and many biographies of famous Americans from the Scholastic Book Services flyers that came to our class, I have had a passion for this in-class, teacher-led, student-choice book club model. Practically the day I graduated from NYU business school with an MBA, while I was working in the Publicity Department, Random House asked me to start the Trumpet Club to compete with Scholastic. After eight years, I went to Scholastic and ran the book club division there for 30+ years. I went back to school just after Covid to earn a Master of Education at Harvard because I wanted to speak credibly about the current state of literacy education in the US to funders and supporters.  

Today, with professional business and education experience, credentials, and decades of experience—and access to the very best team members to help realize our vision—I am confident Impact Reading will change the literacy trajectory for all kids in the US who need us. We have an urgent opportunity to make this happen. I am proud, happy, and motivated to be a Literacy Champion. 

I am also a Cookie Monster. It’s now 9 p.m., and I am heading to the freezer.

—Judy