Banned Books Week 2026
September 10, 2026 — The American Library Association(ALA) urges all of us to get ready to celebrate Banned Books Week, October 4-10, 2026. Its theme is “Let Books Be. Protect the Freedom to Read.”
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Barnes & Noble Holiday Book Drive Benefits Kids in Need
February 13, 2026 — Blandon, PA — Barnes & Noble Wyomissing PA customers were more than generous this past holiday season as the store honored Judith’s Reading Room for the sixth straight year as its chosen charity.
Kids in need received a total of 822 children’s books with a total cover price of $7,500 that were purchased by generous and compassionate customers. Beneficiaries included kids without many books at home who attend Paxinosa Elementary School in Easton, PA; elementary scholars at Mosaic Preparatory Academy in East Harlem, NY; Navajo children who live on the reservation without a library in Chinle, AZ; and, Louisiana United Methodist Children & Family Services, in Ruston, LA, an organization that serves rescued children caught up in the crime of child trafficking.
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Judith’s Reading Room Concludes 2025 with 9 New Libraries in 28 Countries
December 20, 2025 – Blandon, PA. Judith’s Reading Room announced its #117th eponymous library in its 28th country at the Kirioruwa School in Sri Lanka, an island country in the Indian ocean on the Asian continent with a population of nearly 22 million.
Plans to establish our library were completely disrupted when, in early December, Cyclone Ditwah brought devastating rain and flooding to Sri Lanka and southern India. More than one million people were affected and 220,000 were forced into safety centers.
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Navajo Authors, Illustrators to be Showcased – Chinle, AZ
November 1, 2025 — Blandon, Pa. Judith’s Reading Room announced that its 116th Judith’s Reading Room library will be formally opened on April 9, 2026 in Chinle, Arizona, a community within the Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in America. The announcement is made today to recognize National Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month which is celebrated each November.
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Literacy Nonprofit Delivers STEM Power
September 12, 2026 — Judith’s Reading Room, a 501 (c) (3) based in eastern PA, dedicated its newest library containing more than 90 brand-new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) books to Abundant Life Academy (ALA) in Nutley, New Jersey, filling a vital gap in its library and connecting its students to a global community of young innovators. It became the organization’s 115th Judith’s Reading Room named library.
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Custom Donation Reimagines What Reading Can Be
July 31, 2025 — In a move that refreshes and reimagines the role of today’s libraries, Judith’s Reading Room has donated a custom-curated collection of graphic novels to the historic James Prendergast Library in Jamestown, NY. The gift, designed to create a ”library-within-a-library” brings new energy, relevance, and excitement to the library’s offerings — particularly for teens, visual learners, and reluctant readers. It is the organization’s 114th library in 27 countries around the world.
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With South Africa, Judith’s Reading Room Expands to 27 Nations
June 25, 2025 — Judith’s Reading Room, a global nonprofit literacy organization, founded in 2010 in the memory of Judith F. Krug, a distinguished American librarian and cousin to its founders, today inaugurated its 113th library as it expanded geographically to its 27th country — South Africa. Over the course of a decade, Judith’s Reading Room has established libraries in 7 African nations.
Vhulakanjhani Primary School, located in Malubana Village, Nkambako, Limpopo Province, serves approximately 900 students in grades R-7 (ages 5-13). The school is in a rural part of Limpopo that depends largely on farming fruits, vegetables, animals and timber. There is high unemployment and while the school is under-resourced, the teachers and students are dedicated and enthusiastic.
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Judith’s Reading Room Donates Library to Jane Goodall Institute in Nepal
June 19, 2025 — Hundreds of children in one of the poorest communities in rural Nepal joined Judith’s Reading Room — a global literacy nonprofit based in eastern Pennsylvania — today as it dedicated its 112th library in its 26th country — Nepal.
Mee Wah Tan (recipient of Judith’s Reading Room’s ‘Outstanding Service Award’) — she is on the left. Ms. Shristi Singh Bhandari, Executive Director, Jane Goodall Institute Nepal is on the right.
In collaboration with Jane Goodall Institute Nepal (JGIN), the 112th Judith’s Reading Room library was inaugurated today at Janata Adharbhut Primary School which now boasts its first-ever library with 578 children’s books in English that were purchased locally with $2,000 provided by Judith’s Reading Room. “There are 400 students in grades 4-7 who call this school their center of knowledge, yet the children who hail from one of the poorest communities of the region do not have access to books that go beyond their school curriculum,” according to Shristi Singh Bhandari, Executive Director, JGIN.
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First-ever Tribal Community Library on Navajo Reservation, Chinle, AZ
June 12, 2025 — Judith’s Reading Room announced today that it will establish a curated library of exceptional literature written or illustrated by Indigenous people — mainly Navajo but also including dozens of enrolled citizens from tribes across the United States. The inauguration of the Judith’s Reading Room library to serve the 128,000 Navajo people will establish its first-ever Tribal Community Library in Chinle, AZ.
Chinle Planting Hope (CPH), a local Arizona nonprofit, was selected as one of 15 libraries to be dedicated as a part of the organization’s “15 Libraries to Celebrate Our 15th Anniversary in 2025.” Judith’s Reading Room has supported CHP since 2020 by donating 500 children’s books for its READ in Beauty Bookmobile.
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Literacy Non-Profit Advances its 15th Anniversary Project on 3 Continents in June 2025
June 3, 2025 — Judith’s Reading Room, the global literacy nonprofit organization based in eastern Pennsylvania, continued its “15 Libraries to Celebrate its 15th Anniversary in 2025” library installations on three continents. A Scottish non-profit and two primary schools in Nepal and South Africa will receive curated book collections hand-picked to inspire a love of reading and to allow a culture of reading to catapult children and adults alike into a lifetime relationship with literature.
