At the end of October, we were overjoyed to host our first Storytime field trip at our Book Bank, welcoming 19 students and three chaperones from Ms. Wong’s 2nd/3rd grade class at Visatacion Valley Elementary School in San Francisco. After listening raptly to some wonderful stories read by volunteer Leslie Thompson (pictured seated at center), Ms. Wong selected unlimited free books from our shelves for her classroom library while each student filled their new Storytime tote with five free books they picked out to keep for their very own. Storytime is our first direct service program for children, promoting literacy and book ownership with invited elementary schools serving under-resourced children in our community. Lack of access to books is known to be the single biggest barrier to literacy development and consequent improved lifetime outcomes, yet too many children don’t have access to books of their own. With your support, our Storytime program is another way we’re fulfilling our mission to give books to children who need them for equity in literacy, learning, and life. Thank you!