Thank you to EY for offering Page Turners as a service opportunity again this year!

More than 1/3 of children across the U.S. are struggling with reading and for far too many, it’s because they can’t see themselves in the books that they read. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the number of children struggling with reading is growing. 47% of San Diego County’s students are failing to meet reading and language arts standards. That’s why we, at Words Alive, pride ourselves on selecting the most contemporary, diverse, relevant, and engaging books we can get our hands on for our programs. That’s how we connect students and families to books that they can see themselves in, books that they want to read.

That’s where passionate readers, like you, come in! By reading and reviewing titles from our recommendation list, you help us determine which books should be added to our program curriculum and taught in classrooms across our programming.

And the best part? You can get started today from the comfort of your favorite reading spot!


EY’s Impact Numbers

After launching our service opportunities with EY in 2020, our community has grown rapidly. Check out the numbers below to see how EY has contributed to bringing words alive. Thank you for each book and page read and follow along to see how these numbers grow year after year!

Number of EY Participations since 2020: 450

Number of Books reviewed by EY participants since 2020: 510

Number of hours spent reading since 2020: 1,612

Number of pages read since 2020: 90,049

Estimated value of volunteer time: $54,179.32

  1. First things first, watch these two videos! (10 min)

Learn more about who we are and what we do!

Now watch this orientation video to learn about how our Page Turners program works and how you can get started!


2. Now you’re ready to sign up to be a Page Turner! (~1 min)

Use this form to sign up for Words Alive Page Turners:


3. Next, browse our book selection. (~5 min)

Help us hit a minimum of twenty reviews for each of the books we are considering for our programming. You can check out all the books that we need reviews for here, pre-sorted by age range:

If you’re in the U.S. you can also shop for these books at Bookshop.org, for every purchase you make through this page, Bookshop donates 10% back to Words Alive!


4. Sign up to read a book. (<1 min)

Once you’ve found a book (or books) that you’re excited to read, sign up to read it here. Don’t forget to keep track of approximately how many hours it takes you to read, because we’ll ask for that info in your review.


5. Tell us what you thought! (~10-15 min)

After you read the book, gather your thoughts, then fill out the review form:

If you have any questions, email [email protected]!


46% of children in San Diego read below grade level, and that number is far from unique to San Diego. On top of that, we are expecting massive learning loss due to the ongoing challenges related to Covid-19. Make an investment today so that we can continue providing essential literacy programs, connecting students and families to a love of reading that lasts a lifetime.

If you'd like give the gift of reading to a student of a family without access to books, click below!