First Book Canada and Amazon Canada team up to help kids turn the page on a better school year

The Buy a Book, Give a Book program brings over 100,000 books to Canadian children in need

TORONTO, October 27th, 2021 — First Book Canada and Amazon Canada announced today that, for the fourth consecutive year, they are collaborating on the Buy a Book, Give a Book program, and have surpassed their goal of delivering 100,000 brand new books for kids in high-needs communities across Canada. This past summer, Amazon Canada pledged to donate a book to a child in need for every purchase of a designated Canadian children’s book from Amazon.ca. By mid-August Canadian customers had exceeded all expectations, setting up a massive Featured Book Distribution of over 120,000 brand new books. These books, generously donated by Canadian publishing partners, will be distributed by First Book Canada’s extensive network of educators and community members to Canadian children in need this fall – it’s all happening this week and next. To celebrate the success of the program, Amazon.ca and First Book Canada are hosting a special Reading Celebration at Lord Dufferin Public School in Regent Park.

“We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Amazon Canada on the Buy a Book, Give a Book program because we know it has immediate impact,” said Tom Best, Executive Director of First Book Canada. “This has been a particularly challenging year for many school children and their families across the country. The many months of learning from home have been out of school without access to books and essential resources over that time and this past summer has taken a huge toll. “Learning Recovery” has really begun in earnest now and programs like this, where we are able to deliver books directly to the kids who need them most are critical to developing reading skills but also to students’ mental health and well-being. We are so grateful to have the support of Amazon Canada in this mission.”

Currently, one in four Canadian households do not have a single book in them – a startling statistic made all the more devastating by the impacts of COVID-19. The pandemic led to nationwide closures of schools and libraries – which has left many Canadian kids in need without access to books, and widened the education gap between students with access to resources and those without. First Book Canada and Amazon Canada’s Buy a Book, Give a Book program aims to reduce the number of Canadian children without books at home by supplying age-appropriate books they can call their very own – helping to ensure that no child is left behind.

“The joy of reading is a gift that lasts a lifetime, and we’re proud to team up with our customers and First Book Canada to help bring that joy to students coast-to-coast,” said Mike Strauch, Amazon Canada country manager. “Kids of every age and every background benefit when they have access to new books and reading material. We’re honoured to have the chance to help provide those opportunities.”

For more information on First Book Canada and the Buy a Book, Give a Book program, visit amazon.ca/buy1give1.

About First Book Canada
By making new, high-quality books and educational resources available on an ongoing basis, First Book Canada is transforming the lives of children and elevating the quality of education in the country. Since 2009, First Book Canada has distributed over 8 million new books to hundreds of thousands of children in need across Canada. For more information, or to register for books, visit us at firstbookcanada.org and follow our latest news on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

For more information, please contact:
amazon-pr@amazon.com

First Book Canada
Tom Best, Executive Director
tbest@firstbook.org

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