What was your favorite book when you were little?

Perhaps it’s a book a parent or grandparent read to you at bedtime.

Maybe it’s the first book you read by yourself, a story you fell in love with and read over and over.

Too many children don’t have a favorite book. Many don’t have any children’s books at home. Even in affluent US families, nobody reads every day to 4 out of 10 children.

Everybody Wins! Vermont is on a mission to change that.

“I really liked how we could finish a bunch of books together because I normally don’t read very much.” —Everybody Wins! mentee

Everybody Wins! reading mentors meet over lunch and recess every week with the same child. They read a book, talk about their lives, play a game. They become friends, with reading at the heart of what they do together.

Everybody Wins! isn’t tutoring or testing. Schools do a great job of teaching kids how to read already. By reading to children, Everybody Wins! mentors help them fall in love with story, with language, and with books. Loving to read is the most important factor in reading well, in doing well in school, and in later success academically and personally.

Children with mentors stay in school longer, get involved in more extra-curricular activities, and are more likely to volunteer themselves as adults.

“He looks forward to meeting and reading with his mentor each week. He lights up when he talks about her.” —Everybody Wins! parent

Volunteering is great for mentors too. Need a break from a long work day? Instead of eating lunch at your desk, go hang out with a child for an hour. Ready to get out of the house? Get to know your local school and see a new young friend every week.

Everybody Wins! brings community members together with their local schools. It’s good for everyone!

“It is such a joy to be with my young man. He is excited when I come. If you could bottle that anticipation and smile you could make a million.” —Everybody Wins! mentor

Thanks to Hunger Mountain Co-op’s Giving Change program, we will be able to match more children with mentors in central Vermont this year. There are Everybody Wins! programs in Montpelier, Northfield, Waterbury, Waitsfield, and Barre City. (We are looking for a site coordinator in Barre City, so if Everybody Wins! interests you, come be a part of our team! More info at everybodywinsvermont.org.)

In the process, children who have never had them before will discover favorite books—and mentors will find new favorites too.

Written by Beth Wallace, Executive Director of Everybody Wins! Vermont