Open Books is a nonprofit organization based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, that sells donated books to fund literacy programs for kids. Founded by Stacy Ratner in 2006, Open Books has since started several literacy programs for kids, and has taken part in literacy events in Chicago. Open Books has three store locations, based in Pilsen,

West Loop The Near West Side, one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, is on the West Side, west of the Chicago River and adjacent to the Loop. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 started on the Near West Side. Waves of immigration shaped the history of t ...

, and Logan Square areas of Chicago. Open Books employs adult volunteers who work in their bookstores, and with participants during literacy workshops.

History of Organization

Open Books was founded in 2006 by Stacy Ratner, the organizations' executive director. Ratner attended

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

and

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College, a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It is situated on a campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about from the university's main campus in Chestn ...

, and later, Northwestern University’s

Kellogg School of Management The Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management (branded as Northwestern Kellogg) is the graduate business school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois. History Early ...

. Open Books began in Ratner's basement in the South Loop, where she and Becca Keaty collected and organized donated books. After three months, they acquired 50,000 donated books. In 2009, Ratner opened a storefront in River North. The store held 50,000 books, 10,000 of them being children books. In 2012, 60-80

Chicago Public School Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...

s participated in Open Books programs. As of 2012, approximately 75 percent of Open Books $1.2 million budget comes from bookstore and online sales. In 2014, Open Books opened their Pilsen store location. The next year, Open Books opened another bookstore location in the West Loop. The founders of Open Books learned that over 53% of Chicago adult resident have deficient literacy skills. Ratner, Keaty, and Walter, and additional volunteers then began to promote literacy in the city of Chicago. Nell Klugman, volunteer coordinator for Open Books, confirms that Open Books actions focus on creating access to books and prioritizing time for reading.

Events and Collaborations

On Feb. 14, March 14, and Nov, 14 in 2014, Open Books participated in The Chicago Arts Districts' "2nd Friday Gallery Night" event. The event is a monthly reception at different art studios and galleries in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. In July 2014, Open Books participated in Chicago’s first Independent Bookstore Day, where they offered free bags of books to attendees who arrived first. In December 2014, Open Books donated 500 children's books to the CTA annual Holiday train where they were given out at the

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

Purple Purple is a color similar in appearance to violet light. In the RYB color model historically used in the arts, purple is a secondary color created by combining red and blue pigments. In the CMYK color model used in modern printing, purple is ...

, and

Yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

line stops. In 2016, Open Books had its first Garage Sale event. The event took place on Saturday, April 30 at 10 a.m. until May 1 at 4:00 p.m at Open Books' Pilsen location. On April 29, 2017 Open Books held its second Garage Sale event at their Pilsen location. On March 27, 2018, Goose Island Brewhouse selected Open Books for their Charity of the Month program. On the last Tuesday of the month in 2018,

Goose Island Brewery Goose Island Beer Company is an American brewery in Chicago. The oldest currently operating brewing company in Illinois, it began as a brewpub that opened in 1988 in the Lincoln Park, Chicago, Lincoln Park neighborhood, and was named after Goose ...

selects a local charity, and then donates a portion of their dinner proceeds for that night to the selected charity. Open Books Pilsen will be holding their third Garage Sale event on April 28–29, 2018.

Literacy Programs

Reading Buddies

"Reading buddies" is a literacy program held twice a week throughout the school year, where Open Books's staff members and approved adult

volunteer Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency ...

s pair up with an elementary school student to work on literacy skills such as

fluency Fluency (also called volubility and eloquency) refers to continuity, smoothness, rate, and effort in speech production. It is also used to characterize language production, language ability or language proficiency. In speech language patholog ...

and

reading comprehension Reading comprehension is the ability to process written text, understanding, understand its meaning, and to integrate with what the reader already knows. Reading Comprehension of spoken language, comprehension relies on two abilities that are co ...

for 30 minutes.

Creative Writing Field Trips

Open Books West Loop has a

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

field trip A field trip or excursion is a journey by a group of associated peers, such as coworkers or school students, to a place away from their normal environment for the purpose of education or leisure, either within their country or abroad. When ar ...

s program for elementary and high school students where they take part in

literacy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

games and activities, before going on to write their own work of creative literacy. After the workshop, all students receive printed copies of the classes works to keep.

Read Then Write

Read Then Write is a literacy composition and publishing program for young authors. Teens read and discuss books from a specific genre and then write their own stories in that style, which Open Books later publishes. During this program, students read through a text with a volunteer writing coach before going on to write their own creative writing works, which are published in an annual Open Books anthology.

Open Books Publishing Academy

Open Books Publishing Academy is a reading, creative writing, book access & distribution program where children create, write and professionally publish a full length novel. With the assistance of Open Books staff, writing coaches, and published authors students consult industry professionals about design and publication of their books. After the program, all finished works are displayed at Open Books' Publishing Academy Book Launch.

Book Grant Program

Through their Book Grant Program, from 2014-2015 Open Books donated over 130,000 books to community organizations to help create libraries in schools and non profit centers. Book grants help create classroom libraries, additional children’s book grants and reading resource materials.{{cite news, last1=Cardos, first1=Nicole, title=Open Books works to turn page on illiteracy in Chicago, url=https://today.uic.edu/open-books-hopes-to-turn-page-on-illiteracy, access-date=9 April 2018, agency=UICToday, publisher=University of Illinois at Chicago, date=10 Feb 2015

References

Non-profit organizations based in Chicago