Reading Goal:  70 hours total as a family

This March, our family is taking on a Readathon challenge — and things are getting competitive.

Here’s the breakdown:
***Kate is committing to **30 hours** of reading.
***Leo and Hen are tackling **15 hours** each.
***Erik is going for **10 hours** (if he can manage to stay awake).

There will be timers. There will be charts. There will absolutely be bragging rights.

To make things even more interesting, we’re adding incentives:
*** 📚 Donate $25+ and you get to vote on what we each read next (see our stacks above).
*** 🔖 Donate $50+ and you’ll receive a handmade button, pin or magnet from our family.
*** 📖 Donate $100+ and we’ll send you your own copy of any of book pictured above.

If you’re willing to sponsor our effort, your donation will directly support literacy programs in Chicago — and motivate us to keep turning pages.

Help us meet our goals. Help us keep turning pages. Help Chicago kids read. WIN. WIN. WIN. 📚🏆

Open Books' Associate Board is hosting a month-long Read-a-Thon throughout March 2026, in honor of National Reading Month, to raise funds and awareness for Open Books' signature reading and book access programs. Considering Open Books' mission to support literacy skill development and encourage everyone to enjoy reading, this is a fantastic opportunity to get involved and show why you love to read! Please consider supporting one of our readers or joining in the fun yourself - you can sign up here or contact readathon@open-books.org to learn more and get started. 

This year, the Read-a-Thon team is working hard to raise $45,000 for Open Books' literacy and book access programs. Consider what your donations can support:

$25 can provide books and supplies for one 1st or 2nd grader in our year-long Reading Buddies program
$50 can support a month of upkeep of our Little Free Library network in North Lawndale
$100 can provide 30 new, high-interest book titles for our youth book granting efforts
$250 can fund supplies for one of our eight-week-long Early Childhood Literacy Residencies in at-home daycares
$500 can support the development of resources for parents and caregivers in our target communities

Open Books' Mission

Open Books is a nonprofit literacy organization that helps transform lives through reading, writing, and the unlimited power of books. We partner with communities to ensure that youth and families have equitable access to be lifelong readers. Open Books is committed to working in community with our neighborhood partners toward a collective effort to grow and foster a literacy-strong Chicago. We work to break down systemic barriers to reading and literacy and build strong values of reading. Through neighborhood partnerships, we design and implement literacy initiatives for youth, families, caregivers, and communities on the South and West sides of Chicago by providing high-quality resources, experiences, and book-centered spaces. We employ people power and a variety of pathways for books to fuel our placemaking initiatives so that reading can happen anywhere, anytime. To learn more, please visit www.open-books.org.