KidsREAD! is an ongoing book donation program based in Orange County, California, that provides books for children in need. Since 2010, KidsREAD! has donated new and gently used books to children in Title I schools, disaster areas, hospitals, youth clubs, refugee programs and homeless shelters.

KidsREAD! was created by 12 year-old Megan Mettler as a Community Service project. With the help of her classmates, Megan collected over 13,000 books to be donated to kids in need and to replace books damaged or lost in disasters around the country. Megan and her family continued to grow the Kids READ! program and in 2014, they turned over the program to Barry Ackerman, co-founder of the Orange County Children’s Book Festival.  To date, KidsREAD! has been able to donate books to over 173,000 children, including donations to children in remote villages in Africa, Borneo, Malaysia, and Nepal.  Our most recent programs are donating books to new Mothers and their babies upon discharge from the hospital and distributing books about space exploration to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders as part of the National Space Society STEM program. 

For more information about Kids READ!,  contact Barry Ackerman  714-838-4528