Read LA! Bookmobile Rolls Out With Pasadena Kickoff

Families In Schools launches its Read LA! Bookmobile on Monday, a mobile literacy hub that will carry free books and bilingual Storytimes to children across Los Angeles County. The nonprofit announced a kickoff event in Pasadena to mark the rollout.

The vehicle is a recent arm of the organization’s Read LA! campaign, a literacy effort Families In Schools started in November 2023. According to the organization, the Bookmobile will travel to schools, parks, community centers, clinics, and neighborhood events countywide, helping children build home libraries and develop reading habits over time rather than through a single visit.

The Bookmobile was donated by Mary and Johnny Randel, the organization said. It will offer free books, bilingual Storytimes, and family literacy resources, extending a campaign whose stated goal is for 70% of Los Angeles Unified students to read proficiently by the end of third grade by 2030. Families In Schools has framed that benchmark as the central measure of the campaign’s progress.

According to the launch announcement, the event was set for Madison Elementary School, 515 East Ashtabula Street, in Pasadena, beginning at 8 a.m., and was to include a ribbon-cutting and a tour of the Bookmobile. The announcement also said students would receive free books to help build home libraries. Families In Schools lists Scholastic as a book donor for its Read LA! Storytime program, though the company’s role in this specific giveaway was not independently confirmed.

Madison Elementary serves students in kindergarten through fifth grade in the Pasadena Unified School District. The district has reported that 43% of its students tested at or above proficiency in reading, based on California assessment results spanning the 2021-22 through 2023-24 school years.

The Pasadena setting connects the new vehicle to earlier campaign work in the area. Families In Schools has said that after the Los Angeles County wildfires, its Read LA! Storytime program brought read-alouds and book giveaways to communities from Pacific Palisades to Pasadena and Altadena, working with book donors including Scholastic, PaperPie, and Age of Learning.

The organization has said that effort distributed more than 3,000 books to over 2,000 children, positioning the Bookmobile as a way to make that kind of outreach a recurring presence rather than a one-time response.

Families In Schools, led by President and Chief Executive Yolie Flores, describes the Bookmobile as a permanent, mobile extension of the campaign. The organization, which says it is marking its 25th year in 2026, also operates a Read LA! mobile app it says is available in more than 130 languages and requires no personal information to use, part of an effort to lower barriers for families seeking literacy support at home.

Read LA! launched in November 2023 and has since combined family engagement, advocacy, and direct services. Families In Schools has also backed state literacy legislation tied to the campaign’s goals.

The organization said the Bookmobile will continue visiting locations throughout Los Angeles County in the months ahead, with its 2030 reading benchmark remaining the campaign’s long-term target.