First Book (website)

TLDR: First Book  offers inexpensive books of various levels.  They also offer bulk cartons of books for shipping only (often about $10 for a box of 20 hardback books).  Additionally, they have free lesson plans that can be downloaded.

 

What is First Book? 

First Book believes that education is the best way out of poverty for children in need. We address the needs of the whole child supporting their education, basic needs, and wellness – all of which are essential to educational equity. All of these resources are made affordable to our member network of more than 550,000 educators who exclusively serve kids in need.

Stats:

• Started 1992
• Distributed more than 225 million books and resources
• All 50 US states and provinces of Canada
• Reaches about 5 million children per year

 

Features:

In the First Book Marketplace, you can sort books by age, topic, genre, language, type, or price. Currently on the age 10-12 filter, you can get a hardback copy of Kingdom Keepers (Disney) for $1.35 (retail $17.99), and there are hundreds of books for less than $3 including an assortment of “Who is….” books, National Geographic books, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid books.

 

The Book Bank is a quick and inexpensive way to get a lot of books into kids’ hands. These new books are available by the carton for just the cost of shipping and handling. Often the cost is about $10 for about 20 hardcover books.

 

There are free resources https://www.fbmarketplace.org/free-resources  including lesson plans on topics such as Teaching about the Holocaust, Supporting Grieving Students, Trauma Toolkit, and A Future without Waste.

 

The Digital Learning Section https://www.fbmarketplace.org/digital-learning has the Lego Build the Change series of lesson plans.  Also included are free access to Open eBook, Boddle, and codeSpark

 

 

My First Book Experience

When I was looking to expand my outdated classroom library, a teacher friend recommended First Book. I looked around a little—grabbed the free Lego Build the Change downloads—and moved on. A couple of weeks later, I received an e-mail offering me up to 10 free (!!) Brick Play Boxes https://www.fbmarketplace.org/brick-play-boxes-432638?utm_source=sa&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nonbook&utm_content=mp_2.2.23_brickplaypromo_lego  because I had downloaded the Lego course packs. These boxes of used and sanitized Lego bricks are listed on the site for $4.68 shipping per box (still a good deal!), but they sent me a code to cover the shipping. (Note: these are listed on the FirstBook site, but they are currently “out of stock”.)  I ordered my 10 boxes and waited—not knowing what to expect. Boy was I shocked! I received 10 boxes as I dumped them into a large plastic tub, they overflowed!

 

 

We received over 100 Lego Mini Figures (including a lot of Star Wars ones!) and all sorts of specialty pieces. My students loved them!

Later, I was invited to join a virtual focus group for the Lego Group and First Book. In exchange, I received a $100 gift card to First Books.

 

I chose 22 individual books (about half were hardback) and included titles like: Diary of a Wimpy Kid; Ra the Mighty, and the Orphan Band of Springdale.  When I compared the price to purchase on Amazon, these books would have cost about $250!  But wait! There was more!

 

I also selected 3 cartons of 20 hardback books. These books would have retailed for about $1000.  One and a half hours of my time = more than $1200 worth of books! One of the books was the Artemis Fowl Guide to the World of Fairies. Other options including High School Musical and Star Wars Mandalorian Poster Books.