NEWS RELEASES > JULY 14, 2026
McHenry, Ill. – July 14, 2026 – Follett Content, a leading provider of PreK-12 literacy resources, supported Page Ahead’s 2026 Book Up Summer program, helping distribute 79,959 books to 10,220 students across 50 schools throughout Washington state.
Book Up Summer is an annual literacy initiative led by Washington-based nonprofit Page Ahead that helps low-income students select and take home books for summer reading. The program is designed to combat summer learning loss, encourage recreational reading, and help students build home libraries of their own.
For the fifth consecutive year, Follett Content partnered with Page Ahead to support the program through book curation, fulfillment, packing, shipping, and delivery coordination.
“Programs like Book Up Summer demonstrate the profound impact access to books can have on students and families,” said Linda Semmler, VP of Content Management and Publisher Relations. “We’re proud to support Page Ahead’s mission by helping connect students with books they're excited to read and keep.”
This year’s book selections included a wide variety of popular and high-interest titles, with Minecraft and Bluey among student favorites. Educators praised the depth and diversity of the collection, noting that students were able to find books aligned with their interests and reading preferences.
Following the program, Lisa Ceniceros, Director of Programs at Page Ahead, commended the partnership and execution of the initiative.
“The book selection and quality from Follett is outstanding! This year the team from Follett provided flawless execution from book curation, packing, and shipping to communication with the schools for book deliveries. The schools and students were thrilled with the new books and over 10,000 students across the state of Washington were able to fill their home libraries with almost 80,000 new books.”
Behind the scenes, Follett Content teams coordinated the selection, packing, and shipment of nearly 80,000 books, helping ensure participating schools received materials efficiently and on schedule.
The partnership reflects a shared commitment to expanding access to books and creating meaningful literacy opportunities for students beyond the classroom.
For more information about Follett Content’s summer reading solutions and literacy initiatives, visit our Summer Reading page.
About Follett Content | follettcontent.com
Follett Content Solutions empowers school libraries, classrooms, and public libraries with access to expertly curated print and digital content, educational resources, and collection management solutions. Through Titlewave®, its industry-leading platform, customers can discover, evaluate, order, and manage children’s, young adult, and adult titles, as well as Makerspace and hands-on learning resources. With more than 150 years of experience serving educators and librarians, Follett Content helps build vibrant collections that inspire learning, literacy, and community engagement. Follow @FollettContent on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.
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