Thank you for your interest in Behind the Book. 

Behind the Book’s mission is to excite children and young adults about reading.  Working with low-income students in New York City’s K-12 public schools, Behind the Book brings authors and their books into individual classrooms to build literacy skills and nurture a new generation of book readers.  We make reading something more than schoolwork—we make reading something kids want to do.

Each of our programs occurs during school hours in a small classroom setting, is taught as part of the class curriculum, incorporates multiple author visits and a writing project, and includes book donations to students and the school library.

How can I help?  There are a number of ways you can help as a volunteer. 

As a volunteer that helps with author visits in the classroom, you may:

1. assist students in crafting stories, writing essays, and/ or producing other projects;
2. take photographs of the classroom in action which will be posted on the Behind the Book and sponsor web sites; and
3. note that no previous experience working or volunteering in classrooms is necessary as Behind the Book and school staff are present in the classrooms at all times and will be there to help guide you.

As a volunteer that helps outside the classroom, you may:

1. conduct community media outreach and public relations; and
2. extend Behind the Book’s community outreach by building classroom/community partnerships, creating relationships with local businesses where we can display student work, and liaising with local political leaders.

How much time should I plan to invest?  If you choose to volunteer in the classroom, please note that each author visit lasts from one-and-a-half to two hours.  Including travel time, you should plan on being away from your office for several hours, but no longer than a morning or an afternoon.  Typically, you will work with the same group of students in the same classroom for three to five author visits, which will be spaced over one to three months.  As a volunteer, you will not only experience, but also be integral to, the program from beginning to end.

Dates and times are set at least a month in advance, allowing ample time for you to schedule Behind the Book sessions into your schedule and give advance notice to supervisors of where you will be and for how long.  Before sessions, you will also receive an email that includes other essential information such as the school’s location, how to get there, contacts at school, etc. 

For volunteer work outside of the classroom, Behind the Book will work with you to establish a schedule of equivalent time.

OK, I’m in.  What happens next?  Contact us at info@behindthebook.org.  You and a member of the Behind the Book team will coordinate an activity that best suits your schedule and abilities. 

Whatever your area of expertise, your support helps to create an experience that affects students’ daily lives and their futures.  By getting our youth to read, we can inspire them to dream bigger and bolder and build their potential.