A child walks into the Book Harvest’s family reading space in Durham, and they quickly dash towards a nearby bookshelf. A book catches their eye, and they grasp it firmly before curling themselves into a nearby chair. A soft smile appears on their parents’ faces; they get to keep this one. For many families, moments like this are rare because access to books at home is not guaranteed. That gap is exactly what Book Harvest, a local nonprofit founded by Ginger Young, is working to close.

The Problem:

Last September, the Nation’s Report Card reported that average reading scores for high school seniors had fallen to their lowest rate since 1992. The gap between students in the 75th-90th percentiles and the 10th-25th percentiles has never been wider. This effect is largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those with lower socioeconomic status were hit harder by the sudden onset of COVID-19. With everyone forced into online school, those enrolled in less affluent public schools found themselves with even less support than before.

Without those key resources, students lack a strong foundation, and the effects are evident today.

According to U.S. News & World Report, Durham County has a large percentage of minority residents. 74.4% of the Durham public school system are minorities, and 50.7% of all students are economically disadvantaged.

In line with that, U.S. News & World Report also reports that only 41% of elementary school students read at or above grade level. That percentage increases to 43% for middle schoolers and 56% for high schoolers.

Even with school back in session, the same resource problem rears its ugly head during the summer. According to the Brookings Institution, students who don’t engage with reading material over the summer can lose one to two months of reading progress per year.

So what’s the solution? If you can’t bring the students to school, you bring school to the students.

The Solution:

Scholastic research has determined that access to a home library is one of the strongest predictors of educational achievement.  According to Scholastic, a home library was equal to or larger than the achievement effect of attending summer school for the same amount of time.

Additionally, students who can choose their own books are 92% more likely to read a book to completion. Providing access to a collection of books can make all the difference in a child’s learning outcomes. But for lower-income areas, children’s books are much harder to come by, especially when school libraries are closed for the summer.

Luckily for Durham families, a local non-profit has taken matters into its own hands, and it all started in the founder’s garage.

Founding Book Harvest

Ginger Young, the founder of Book Harvest, was the kid who always had a book in her hand. When she became a mother, she passed on her passion for reading to her kids. The kids read quickly, soon outgrowing their childhood favorites, which were left on a shelf to collect dust.

At the time, there were no programs in place to get her children’s used books back into circulation. It was then that Young had an idea.

Young called around, gathering as many used children’s books as her garage could fit. She had one objective in mind – to ensure every child in the Durham area has a favorite book to read.

Before Young knew it, she had gathered 10,000 books ready to find a new home. She continued building her team to get her program off the ground.

“The cast of characters was small,” Young said. “ [We were] just a handful of quirky dreamers [with] a love of a good story.”

Over the past 15 years, Book Harvest has gone from a small local book drive to one of the most prominent non-profit literacy programs in Durham. They’ve partnered with local schools to “harvest,” or collect and distribute, more than 3 million books for families in need.

“It’s all about the feedback loop,” Book Harvest Chief Relations Officer Benay Hicks said. “ What do you love? What do you not love? Then we listen, and we figure out how to apply that to a mission.”

Book Harvest Timeline:

Since its creation, Book Harvest has worked to establish a consistent pathway to help families ensure their child stays on track.

“We call it our suite of programs, because we have so many,” Hicks said.  “[They] serve the ultimate purpose of building home libraries and ensuring parents have everything they need to ignite the imagination of their children through story.”

Book Harvest’s support starts from the moment a child is born. New families receive 10 board books and a personal Book Harvest contact before their child leaves the hospital.

Afterward, families can transition to Book Babies, a 5-year program that develops a strong literacy foundation for a child’s introduction to formal education. The program offers quarterly individualized literacy coaching, a custom-made bookshelf and a catalog of more than 100 age-appropriate books available in English or Spanish.

Once students reach school age, they become eligible for Books for K and Books on Break.  Books for K helps ease the transition into kindergarten by offering new students the chance to select 10 books for their home library.

Finally, there is Books on Break, the first program Book Harvest launched back in 2012.  This hallmark program reinforces the framework of all the previous programs. In 2025, Books on Break reached 10,420 elementary school students in 30 schools across eight North Carolina counties with 104,200 new books.

“I still have relationships with parents who have graduated from the program,” Books from Birth Program Manager Wilmarie Cintron-Tyson said.  “They really did see us as a resource beyond the program itself, and I’m proud to be a part of that.”

Book Harvest is committed to empowering all Durham families through community and literacy.

“All of our events remain touch points for families,” Cintron-Tyson said.  “Any kid of any age can get as many books as they want and keep them forever.”  

Back in Book Harvest’s family reading space, another child settles into a chair, carefully turning the pages of a book they’ll soon take home. It’s a small moment, but one that reflects a larger mission, to ensure that for every child in Durham, access to books isn’t a privilege, but a given.

Edited by Gianna D’Amato and Brooke Davis