Great Books for Kids

Help Great Books for Kids gift high-quality books to elementary-aged children in southeast Georgia for their homes.

Once Upon a Time…

I was inspired to begin Great Books for Kids after my daughter came home from school one day. She said several fellow classmates mentioned not having many books at home. I immediately began gifting one book each month to the 15 kids in her class, which grew to purchasing one book each month for all the kids in 2 grades!

In April 2021, I felt a strong calling to GO BIG with my mission, and Great Books for Kids, Inc. was born.

In 2024, we are currently serving over 900 children in Camden & Glynn Counties, and, to date, we have put over $100,000 worth of books into the hands and homes of our local children!

Our Motivation

National child literacy statistics continue to fuel our mission and keep us motivated to expand our reach. With statistics like these, it is clear Great Books for Kids is needed in our community!

Only 42% of children in Georgia are proficient in reading.

The number of books in the home correlates significantly with higher reading scores for children.

On average, children in economically depressed communities have 0-2 age-appropriate books in their homes.

Jen Tacbas - Founder of Great Books for Kids

Great Books for Kids at Woodbine Elementary School

Great Books for Kids delivering books to elementary school children for their homes

Jen Tacbas reading to children at the Woodbine Public Library

Value of books gifted since 2021

Two Ways You Can Help Us

Make a Monetary Donation

Your donation will be used to purchase books directly gifted to local children for their homes and supplies we need for book name labels. Your gift will help ensure we are able to keep moving forward in our mission and is 100% tax deductible.

Donate

Purchase Books for YOUR Readers

Looking to purchase amazing books for your OWN readers aged 0-14+? Great Books for Kids will receive up to a 25% donation of your purchase total from these two websites!

GBFK's PAPERPIE STORE

GBFK's Bookshop

Our Impact

"Great Books for Kids provides quality literature to entire grade levels of students. This shared experience fosters student excitement about reading. When kids get excited about reading, we all win!"

– Maura F. | Camden Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction

"The Great Books For Kids program has made such a positive impact on our Kindergarten students, many of whom have not had the opportunity to actually hold a book in their hands! With each new book, our kids gained confidence in themselves!"

– Tina B. | Kindergarten teacher

"Great Books for Kids is an amazing foundation! What I love most about Mrs. Tacbas is her unwavering devotion to make sure every student in our entire grade level received new books. Receiving these books created HUGE smiles on the faces of my students and definitely encouraged their love of reading."

– Jerri S. | 2nd Grade teacher

"As a Reading teacher, I truly appreciated the free books for all 50 students! It was like Christmas morning each time my students received a new book. I truly appreciate Mrs. Tacbas and all the people who so generously donate, but more importantly, “invest” in literacy for our children!"

– Cheryl A. | 1st Grade reading teacher

“Jennifer Tacbas and Great Books for Kids have blessed my students with great quality books 3 years in a row. Each and every time new books arrived, my students were SO very excited! I love to read aloud to my students, and it is even more special when they have their own copy to follow along with me as I read.”

– Erin Y. | 1st Grade teacher

Current Projects

Books for Kids

Our main project! Our goal is to donate 10 books a school year to each child we serve to help expand their home libraries and grow their interest in reading/books. This year, we would like to TRIPLE the total value of books we gift and increase the number of children we serve! Will you help us?

Donate

Grow Our Library

The Woodbine Public Library is a small, new library vital to our community. The children’s area needs many more books! Make a monetary donation to this project, and we will purchase high-quality hardcovers & board books for the library. Your books will be enjoyed by all the community’s children for years!

Donate

Great Books News

Follow along on our child literacy journey! We’ll share about our book donation days, upcoming events, and more!

November 2023 Book Donation Day!

Nov 16, 2023

It's our November 2023 Book Donation Day! On Wednesday, Great Books for Kids completed a book donation for the students in Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grade at Woodbine Elementary School & Mamie Lou Gross Elementary School! That’s 450 children who will receive a...

Sponsor Spotlight: Author Patsy Smith Roberts

Nov 6, 2023

A wonderful thing happened on Friday! Children’s author and wildlife photographer, Patsy Smith Roberts, who lives on Saint Simons Island, donated 350+ copies of her books to Great Books for Kids - a retail value of over Having visited Africa 30 times in her lifetime,...

Great Books for Kids Story Time & Craft: The Dot

Oct 19, 2023

On Tuesday, Great Books for Kids, in partnership with the Woodbine Public Library, held its October Story Time & Craft event! We had a fabulous turnout of familiar faces & some new ones! I read The Dot by Peter H Reynolds, where we learned that everyone can be...