As Reading Scores Plummet, Literati Rolls Out Direct‑to‑School Book Boxes

Literati’s “Book Clubs for Classrooms” reimagines the nostalgic school book club as an equitable, modern-day subscription service

AUSTIN, TX, UNITED STATES, September 2, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As student reading levels hit crisis lows and classrooms stretch ever tighter budgets, a book club company based in Austin, Texas, today aims to equalize reading access with a new classroom subscription program.

Literati, a venture-backed startup founded in 2016 by entrepreneur Jessica Ewing, which stages modern book fairs and subscription book services, is launching Book Clubs for Classrooms, a monthly book subscription for educators which guarantees every child in a class gets access to new books and that distribution is equitable and inclusive.

Each month, Literati ships a box to classrooms with five new, high-quality books curated for grade level and students’ interests. Teachers can use them to grow classroom libraries, run reading giveaways, or send books home with kids who need them most.

The classic book club model, once a massive part of America’s school reading culture, has dwindled as families buy fewer books through schools and teachers face more pressure to spend out of pocket on costly books. Book Clubs for Classrooms turns that model upside down: teachers can purchase a monthly subscription and Literati curates each box from over 10,000 titles by grade level and genre, each priced 20 - 40% below retail, increasing affordability for cash-strapped educators. What's more, anyone can sponsor an entire classroom with 45 books for about $250 per year. Parents can also choose to purchase a three, six, or nine-month (full school year) gift — the longer the sponsorship, the more affordable the books become.

For many teachers and families, the tradition of distributing flyers and ordering books has faded, and with it, so has the excitement of the classroom "unboxing" moment. But even when the tradition was alive and well, not everyone got to participate. Jessica Ewing, CEO of Literati, said: “Everyone remembers circling books as a kid, but what’s forgotten is who got left out. It used to be a huge moment of excitement, but only for the families who could afford it. We want to rebuild a classroom program with a magical unboxing, but one where every child is included.”

The Real Crisis: Fewer Books, Fewer Readers

Behind this is a bigger story: the U.S. is facing a mounting reading crisis. National scores show that about a third of fourth graders can’t read at grade level, a problem only worsened by pandemic disruptions and budget cuts that limit how many books kids can access in classrooms and at home.

“There’s a lot of noise about which books kids shouldn’t read, but not enough focus on the fact that too many kids have no books at all,” said Ewing. “We can debate titles all day, but the real issue is that families and schools can’t afford to get enough books into kids’ hands. So we designed something simple, joyful, and fair: every child in a class gets to share the excitement together.”

A New Way to Support Teachers

Starting today, just in time for school, teachers are able to sign up for a direct subscription to get boxes sent to their classrooms. Families, neighbors, and community sponsors can gift a subscription to any teacher they choose, making it an easy back-to-school or holiday donation that directly puts books on shelves and into kids’ backpacks.

Literati is working with community partners including athletes and local businesses who want to sponsor classrooms in their hometowns or their own former schools and larger philanthropic campaigns later this year. One such partner is Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s "Eat. Learn. Play." initiative which supports children's access to nutritious meals, quality reading resources, and opportunities to be active in the city of Oakland, California.

Literati is already known for reinventing the old-school book fair with a modern approach. But Ewing said that while book fairs are magical, her company acknowledges that not every child gets to participate. "It is a problem we need to solve,” she said, “so when it came to designing a classroom solution, we wanted to do something very different. Normally classroom focused products run exactly like fairs – distribute a flyer and watch orders come in. I needed a classroom product that could soften the inequality, not amplify it. We needed something for everyone."

Ewing said the idea came from a conversation she had with Cari White, a Texas school librarian who runs Learning Librarians, a massive community of tens of thousands of librarians. "I asked Cari how you can get books in the hands of kids who can't afford them and she had some really lovely ideas. Spreading the wealth around is a great approach, as well as building classroom libraries with fresh books."

When Ewing spoke with teachers about current classroom products, a key theme kept coming up over and over again: unboxing. "It's a huge moment of delight, but it's really only fun when a lot of kids participate. We wanted to figure out a way to keep the magic of the unboxing, but include everyone — and we do that by shipping directly to schools.”

About Literati

Founded to help families and schools fall in love with reading again, Literati delivers millions of books through modern book fairs, subscriptions, and new classroom initiatives designed to close the book-access gap for every kid.

Rob D'Amico
Nofiction
stories@nofiction.com
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