ANNOUNCING BRAIN FOOD BOOKS
Salt Lake City, UT, August 29, 2022
The King’s English Bookshop (TKE) is thrilled to announce our not-for-profit, Brain Food Books (BFB).
TKE has had the good fortune of working with BFB, a local 501(c)(3), for over a decade now. A local pediatrician, Dr. Barbara Bean, wanted to support a local bookstore and give books to each patient at their wellness appointments. Dr. Bean raised and spent thousands of dollars over the years for this project until her retirement in 2019. Through a chance conversation with Calvin Crosby, co-owner of TKE, they discovered they shared a common goal of having books be accessible to kids throughout the state. Dr. Bean suggested that BFB and TKE should work in cooperation to strengthen and enlarge the community project to advance literary education.
The difference between the original BFB and the revived BFB is one of scale. Dr. Bean was giving books to each of her patients one at a time. BFB will be giving books to entire classrooms, schools, pediatric clinics, and daycare centers based on their needs, in addition to letting individual children choose a book. BFB hopes to be able to fund author appearances at schools in areas of economic hardship and give each child a copy of the author’s featured book.
BFB will bring the independent bookshop experience to our partner schools by listening to the educators, the reading coaches, and the TKE staff of expert booksellers to put the right book into each child’s hand. Already in 2022, with soft fundraising and a very generous customer base, TKE was able to donate: 169 books to kids at Eisenhower Middle School (Taylorsville, UT), 167 picture books to lower grades in four local title 1 elementary schools, as well as a considerable number of books to both Horizonte High School (Salt Lake City, UT) and Horizonte’s Adult Ed Program Library. BFB is excited to continue our relationship with Eisenhower and Horizonte and have recently added Hawthorne and Rose Park Elementary Schools to our list of partners. BFB is also look forward to working with the Indigenous populations here in Utah and Tuba City, AZ.
BFB believes access to books offers a broader perspective, hope, and a safe place for children everywhere. Access to books has changed our worlds, so BFB wants to offer that same experience to kids. Representation in literature is a fundamental part of our mission.