When she was in eighth grade, Rania Zuri learned about book deserts. Those are areas in which people don’t have books at home and lack access to libraries and bookstores. More than 32 million children in the United States live in book deserts, according to the American Federation of Teachers.
Inspired, Rania founded a nonprofit called the LiTEArary Society a year later. The name combines her love of books and tea. Group members hold fundraisers and book drives. Then they donate what they collect to children ages 3 to 5 living in book deserts.
The LiTEArary Society focuses its efforts on preschoolers because research shows that exposing kids to books at an early age can have a positive long-term impact on their literacy, says Rania, now 19.
So far, the nonprofit has given free books to more than 36,000 kids across the U.S. For many, the books are the first ones they’ve ever owned. “It truly inspires them to want to keep reading,” Rania says. “When you know how to read, the possibilities are endless.”