• by Tanya Gazdik , June 11, 2013

JetBlue Airways is partnering with Random House for its third annual Soar with Reading program, an award-winning summer literacy initiative that places age-appropriate books in the hands of children in underserved areas.

The initiative includes Magic Tree House series author Mary Pope Osborne and a Web site, jetblue.com/SoarWithReading, which offers free downloadable resources for families. It includes Magic Tree House Soar with Reading Passport Activity Booklets, games, interactive reading lists, and expert advice for keeping kids engaged in reading all summer long.

Passport booklets filled with activities will also be distributed at JetBlue terminals across the U.S. and throughout the Caribbean from June through August to encourage summer reading. Since 2011, JetBlue has donated more than $250,000 worth of books to children in need. 

Research cited in TheHandbook of Early Literacy Research, Volume 2 (The Guilford Press) reveals a large deficit in the U.S. in children's access to age-appropriate books in low-income neighborhoods, where there is one book for every 300 children, compared to 13 such books per child in middle-income neighborhoods.

"Mary Pope Osborne and Random House Children's Books are the perfect partners to help achieve our mission of encouraging kids to let their imaginations come alive," said Icema Gibbs, director of corporate social responsibility at JetBlue Airways, in a release. "With 33% of fourth graders only reading at or below grade level, access to books is vital. The Soar with Reading program will provide deserving children with books throughout the summer to help maintain the knowledge base that was built during the school year."

The Soar with Reading Web site provides an opportunity for children, along with a parent, to create and share an adventure by answering the question, "What magical places would you like to travel to with Magic Tree House characters Jack, Annie, and JetBlue this summer?"

Participants will be entered for a chance to win one of four $5,000 college scholarships and other great prizes. For every submission, JetBlue will donate one book -- up to $500,000 worth of books -- to Mary Pope Osborne's Classroom Adventures Program, which puts books into the hands of underserved children across the country. Through her program, Mary Pope Osborne has already distributed over 250,000 books.

On June 12, JetBlue will kick off the program in the airline's hometown of New York with a special book reading event for 900 local second to fifth-grade students at the 92nd Street Y community and cultural center in Manhattan.

A live Passport to Adventure performance with the beloved Jack and Annie characters will also take place. The audience will feature students served by 92nd Street Y's Educational Outreach program, which reintroduces the arts into the core curriculum of New York City public schools.

Additional reading events with Osborne and characters Jack and Annie will take place in other JetBlue cities, including Boston, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, and San Juan throughout the summer.