Back to school is a time of excitement -- and often anxiety -- for children. Reading can be a key part of the transition from summer back to school. One tip to help is for parents and children to read aloud everywhere, including recipes, menus, directions, newspapers, email, cereal boxes, and more! Five read aloud tips are are available by clicking here. Books about returning to school can be helpful, too. We are Teachers features a list of 59 back-to-school related picture books, including How to Get your Octopus to School. Find that list here! Imagination Soup's back-to-school list of 60 books, including The King of Kindergarten, can be found here. Many more lists are out there -- so search away!

The 2024 Paris Olympics Games have ended (with the Paralympics still to come) -- leaving most of us in awe of the athletes and their incredible spirit of competition. In that same spirit, RIF of NOVA is introducing its 2024 fund- and fun-raiser: Book Olympics! Letters and emails will be sent to our supporters in early fall to help us raise the funds we need to supply new books to 20,000+ deserving children in Northern Virginia, (but please feel free to give NOW!)

Some of the fun-raising activities have already begun! Check out the pics below!!! More may be found by clicking here!

FUN-Raising Olympics at Drew Elementary

When LEGO bricks become bateaux (boats) on the Seine River in Paris, toilet paper rolls become gymnasts and popsicle sticks their balance beams, a paint stick and some aluminum foil turn into a shot put throw, and red cups and yarn become a relay race -- it's Book Olympics time at Arlington's Dr. Charles E. Drew Elementary School!

For a week before this clever Book Olympics book distribution, librarian and NOVA RIF liaison and board member Dora Sue Black led her summer school students in the creation of all things Olympics, teaching them about the Games and getting them excited about their upcoming NOVA RIF book distribution.

Then it was time for the Games to begin! As they entered the library, the children were greeted with their own "opening ceremony" with boats built by 4th graders and a tableau of athlete images colored by the younger students. Then they could choose from an array of Olympic Games options set up throughout the library. Fun? You bet! An experience to remember? For sure! And books to keep? Absolutely!

Books distributed to the Drew children were all donated from our Gently Used Book Program!

Unsinkable Jessica Long

From Russian Orphan to Paralympic Swimming World Champion

The Paralympic Games take place in Paris from August 28 to September 8. NOVA RIF Young Ambassador McKenzie Watt reviewed a book by one of the athletes -- 29-time Paralympic medalist Jessica Long. The athlete is scheduled to compete in her sixth Paralympics Games in Paris.

Adopted as a baby from Russia, Long had a condition known as fibular hemimelia, which forced the amputation of both her legs below the knees. McKenzie writes that Long's is a story about "overcoming adversity and fighting for your dreams, no matter the odds that may be stacked against you." Click here to read more about this inspirational book and athlete.

Girl Scout Goes for Silver with RIF of NOVA

A Girl Scout in the sixth, seventh, or eighth grade can earn a Silver Award -- the top honor at this level of Girl Scouts -- by initiating and completing a project to "make the world a better place." Cadette Scout Cadence Chen is working toward that goal with a project to encourage children's reading in our community. In concert with RIF of NOVA, Cadence launched her initiative at the summer program at Braddock Elementary School, a Title 1 school in Fairfax County. She created a poster in English and Spanish about the importance of reading and set up tables of books for the kids from NOVA RIF's Gently Used Book Program. Clifford (AKA Young Ambassador Michelle Liu) was a big hit -- as he always is, with hugs and high fives all around!

Introducing the 2024-2025 Class of Young Ambassadors

Two new Young Ambassadors have been selected for the 2024-2025 Young Ambassador "class." They are introduced on our website with their short essays on why they wanted to join the YA team. As you will read, they are both stellar leaders...and then some! We are delighted to welcome them to help with the work of putting books into children's hands. They will join five other Young Ambassadors who have signed on for another year of service with RIF of NOVA! Meet them all by clicking here.

Grace Guillory

Clelia Benedetti

Help Us Do Our Work!

Would YOU like to join us? We are an all-volunteer board that works very hard to put books into the hands of children who need them the most! Please help us to provide books to kids in the Northern Virginia community! Click here to learn more!

Contribute online by Paypal or credit card at: https://donorbox.org/donate-to-rif-of-nova. Donate links can be found on every page of our website, too. Every $4 = one book for one child!

Send a check:

Reading is Fundamental of Northern Virginia, Inc. 

P.O. Box 7012

Arlington, VA 22207-0012

Thank you for any donation -- no matter how big or small! And thank you again for being part of the RIF of NOVA community! Books change lives!

How to Get your Octopus to School (Publisher: Flamingo Books; Author: Becky Scharnhorst; Illustrator: Jaclyn Sinquett)

The King of Kindergarten (Publisher: Penguin Random House; Author: Derrick Barnes; Illustrator: Vanessa Brantley-Newton)

Unsinkable Jessica Long (Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Author Jessica Long with Hannah Long)

RIF of NOVA | rifnova@gmail.com | www.rifnova.org

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