The K-3 Home Library program is a summer book delivery initiative that serves public school students across Tennessee. The purpose of the program is to provide students with books and resources to support learning in the home and help combat ‘Summer Slide,’ a term used to describe the learning loss that students can experience when out of school. This is accomplished by delivering a pack of high-quality, age-appropriate books directly to the homes of participating elementary school students during the summer, at no cost to families or schools.

This program is made available by Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation (GELF), the State of Tennessee, and corporate funding partners.

In 2022, the program will serve all rising first and rising second grade students enrolled in all participating public schools. (Rising first grade students are students who just completed kindergarten; rising second grade students are students who just completed first grade.) School participation is determined and managed by the school district. Each district is given the opportunity to participate or opt-out on behalf of their schools.

A select number of rising third grade students were invited to participate this year. Next summer we plan to expand the program to all rising first through third grade students across Tennessee.

Parents and caregivers cannot individually sign up their children to participate in the K-3 Home Library program. GELF partners with school districts and charter schools across Tennessee to enroll students in the program. Last year, 133 districts and 11 charter schools partnered with us to deliver these resources to their students and families. You can view the 2021 participating districts and schools list here.

Prior to the end of the academic school year, you should receive notification from your child’s school district and/or school communicating their plans to participate for the upcoming summer. We will also post a list on our website in May that lists our school district partners.

The program is not currently available to homeschooled students. However, we are actively exploring how we can serve this population and hope to do so in the future.

The program is not currently available to students who attend private schools.

The books are selected by GELF’s Educator Advisory Council (EAC), a consulting body made up of 21 educators from across Tennessee. The EAC is responsible for leading a rigorous book selection process to evaluate and determine the highest quality, age-appropriate books to best meet the needs and interests of Tennessee students and families.

Meet the 2021-2022 EAC members here.

Currently, we have an exclusive contract with Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company, to procure and deliver all books that are provided through this program. If your book is not currently published by Scholastic, we cannot consider it in our book selection process. (Please note: We are not able to assist in your book being published.)

If you are an author that is currently published by Scholastic, please email us the name of the title you would like to be considered. We will advise on next steps after we hear from you.

You can review the 2022 K-3 Home Library program book list here; it is also featured on GELF’s social media.

Books will be mailed via the United States Postal Service (USPS) beginning in late May/early June. Most packs will be delivered by mid-July. Please keep in mind that we are delivering to more than 100,000 Tennessee students across the state, which is why there is such a wide delivery window.

Please contact your local school to update your address. GELF’s partnering school districts and charter schools manage enrollment of students in the program and provide the shipping data.

Please note: To participate in this program, schools and school districts must provide all address data to GELF by mid-April. If you move after that time, your address cannot be updated. However, if your pack is ‘undeliverable’ because you have moved, the book pack will be mailed to your child’s school and can be given to him/her once the academic school year begins.

Books will be mailed via the United States Postal Service (USPS) beginning in late May/early June. Most packs will be delivered by mid-July. Please keep in mind that we are delivering to more than 100,000 Tennessee students across the state, so it’s likely that your child’s pack is still in the mail.

When packs begin to surface in your community, your child’s books probably aren’t far behind!

Books will be mailed via the United States Postal Service (USPS) beginning in late May/early June. Most packs will be delivered by mid-July. However, if your child’s book pack was ‘undeliverable’ for any reason, delivery will be delayed.

At the end of the summer, any ‘undeliverable packs’ will be mailed to your child’s school and can be given to him/her when the academic school year begins. If you still have not received a book pack (either to your home or through your child’s school) by mid-September, please contact us, and we will look into and resolve the issue. (Please note: We cannot investigate missing deliveries until this date.)

You can contact GELF with any additional questions here.