First Book Canada collaborates with Amazon Canada to deliver 100,000 books to kids in need

TORONTO, ON, October 16, 2019 – First Book Canada and Amazon.ca collaborated for the second year in a row, providing 100,000 brand new books to kids in high-needs communities throughout Canada. This generous donation was made possible by Amazon.ca customers who participated in the Buy 1, Give 1 campaign over the summer, where the company donated $1 to First Book Canada for every qualifying children’s book purchased on Amazon.ca over the course of two weeks last month (for up to $100,000).  

Access to adequate resources is the single greatest contributor to educational inequity, but recent research identified vast ‘book deserts’ concentrated in high-needs communities.¹ In a poll of the First Book Canada network, 88 percent of respondents reported that resources from First Book Canada help to close the achievement gap for the kids they serve.  

“We’re grateful for the opportunity to partner with our customers and with First Book Canada to share our love of reading with students across Canada,” said Mike Strauch, Amazon Canada country manager. 

“We are so excited about the remarkable possibilities the Amazon Canada Buy 1, Give 1 program provides to children right across Canada this fall,” said Tom Best, Executive Director of First Book Canada. “Not only did Amazon Canada and its customers surpass our target but they have generously helped us this year with the logistics and volunteers, allowing us to ship over 100,000 brand new books to children in all parts of Canada in both English and French. We can’t think of a better way to start the school year than with a new book.” 

About First Book Canada  
By making new, high-quality books and educational resources available on an ongoing basis, First Book Canada is transforming the lives of children and elevating the quality of education in the country. Since 2009, First Book Canada has distributed over 7 million new books to hundreds of thousands of children in need across Canada. For more information, or to register for books, visit us at firstbookcanada.org and follow our latest news on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.  

About Amazon  
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews. 

Media Contact:

Calyssa Erb, Communications Coordinator, First Book Canada
cerb@firstbook.org
866.732.3669 ext. 4383

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