Bess The Book Bus Hits The Road To Create Lifelong Readers

Leo Migdal

-Dec 12, 2025, 12:35 PM

bess the book bus hits the road to create lifelong readers

Published 2:51 pm Tuesday, April 15, 2025 Bess the Book Bus began its annual expedition across the United States this month to deliver book ownership to early elementary students. On Monday and Tuesday, the bus made stops in Lake Charles. Based out of Tampa, Fla., Bess the Book Bus is a nationwide mobile literacy initiative that aims to bring the joy of reading and book ownership to students, educators and families in economically vulnerable... The bus makes 19 to 25 stops a year across the United States to provide free books to pre-kindergarten to first-grade students. It was founded in 2002 by Jennifer Frances, and named after her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth “Nana Bess” O’Keefe.

Nana Bess instilled the joy of reading in Frances and her cousin. And as someone from a family of “story lovers and storytellers,” she decided she wanted to share that passion with students. “When I was looking for something to do in my community, I wanted to find something that I thought was a missing piece, but also something I was passionate about.” Tampa Woman Travels Half-A-Million Miles To Give Kids Free Books. The Kelly Clarkson Show. March 13, 2025.

Kids in Navajo Nation have limited Internet access. A woman sent them 1,500 books. Washington Post. June 9, 2020. Booking It to Help Children. The Early Show (CBS).

May 22, 2009. Bess the Book Bus returns to Maine, bringing free new books to children. WGME CBS 13. August 27, 2025. Bess the Book Bus and Jennifer Frances. WFLA’s Daytime with Maggie Rodriguez.

July 15, 2025. TAMPA, Fla. — “Bess the Book Bus” is becoming quite popular at Hillsborough County’s Transformation Network elementary schools. It’s a pop-up book fair, only the books are free. Jennifer Frances, who started the nonprofit, said her goal is to help develop the next generation of readers, and by providing kids with books to help them build their own home library. Frances started her nonprofit in 2002.

Since then, she said she’s given away more than one million books. Frances recently got to know a group of first graders at Shaw Elementary School in Tampa. It was her second time visiting this year. Book fairs bring joy and build lifelong readers. Bess the Book Bus takes away the economic barrier that often separates families from new and wide-ranging reading materials. We strive to reach children across the United States with visits by our book bus, bulk book deliveries to community partners, interactive events and read-alouds.

We provide access to new books and give children, teachers and caregivers the opportunity to choose reading materials that fuel imaginations. It is through access and choice that children can find a joy in reading that fuels a lifetime of learning. This gift honors Paulette’s milestone birthday and her lifelong dedication to educating others and enriching lives. A true legacy worth celebrating. Donation made on behalf of Karoline & Ellen of Punta Gorda. Merry Christmas!

End of year gift! I am so proud of the work of 2025 - Bess is making such a tremendous difference in the lives of children. Tampa, FL—Bess the Book Bus Returned to Michigan this month and visited Harms Elementary School in SW Detroit on May 15th with partnership support from Detroit Financial Credit Union and Cornerstone Academy. On May 20th, with help from CITGO and Miss Michigan- Jenae Lodewyk, Bess the Book Bus delivered approximately 678 books. Bess the Book Bus, a nonprofit agency based out of Tampa, Florida, has a team that travels nationwide to imbue literacy, implements programs that are nurturing, social book fair experiences that help instill a... These events manifest the organization’s mission and fulfill the promise of book access, choice and ownership for young readers, bridging economic barriers.

They endeavor to spark the joy of reading for pleasure and ignite a lifetime of learning. Every day the team works toward a world wherein children, educators, and families have equitable access to books that they can choose for their home and classroom libraries. To date, Bess the Book Bus has delivered over one million books! “Approximately 570 students and educators visited the book fairs in Detroit and were able to take home new books.” Founder and Executive Director, Jennifer E. Frances stated, “We had a great trip to Detroit and hope to make it an annual visit going forward! It’s been since 2018, and we were so happy to return to this lovely community!”

Bess the Book Bus began its annual expedition across the United States in April of this year to deliver books to elementary and middle school students throughout the nation. Bess the Book Bus is a nationwide mobile literacy initiative that aims to bring the joy of reading and book ownership to students, educators and families in economically vulnerable neighborhoods. The bus travels nationwide to provide free books to pre-K and K-12 students. Bess the Book Bus was founded in 2002 by Jennifer E. Frances, and named after her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth “Nana Bess” O’Keefe. Nana Bess instilled the joy of reading in Frances and her cousin.

And as someone from a family of “story lovers and storytellers,” she decided she wanted to share that passion with students. Over the past 23 years, the bus has made stops in each of the 48 contiguous states. This annual nationwide tour gives the organization the ability to really foster literacy and encourage reading from an early age. Jennifer stated, “Access and choice are the vital components of nurturing a love of reading in children. To become lifelong readers, kids need access to a variety of books both at home and in the classroom. This way they not only have consistent access to reading materials, they are able to engage with literature that they are interested in, and in turn, this fosters a local culture of reading that...

When you get that choice, it creates an ownership mentality, and that translates into having an identity as a reader,” she explained. “I want them to know it’s not just about a test score - I want them to really feel the joy of reading and getting lost in a beautiful story.” Bess the Book Bus programs are nurturing, social book fair experiences that help instill a love of reading one child, one caregiver, and one educator at a time. These events manifest our mission and fulfill the promise of book access, choice and ownership for young readers, bridging economic barriers. We endeavor to spark the joy of reading for pleasure and ignite a lifetime of learning. Every day we work toward a world wherein children, educators and families have equitable access to books that they can choose for their home and classroom libraries.

Sign up for the latest news and updates from Bess “It has been quite an adventurous year. We have seen it as a true opportunity for growth and resilience. There has been an unexpected phenomenon of our work becoming even more personal on several levels. Some of our families that are now learning from home started contacting us directly at the beginning of the pandemic so that they could come pick up books for their children. Some families came to our office and with some families we met them in driveways or parking lots.

We have become a lot closer with several of our teacher friends as well. It is so inspiring to see how hard they are working to reach their children and to make their children see that they are valued and cared for even when they can’t be face-to-face... Several of our teacher friends have been going door to door delivering supplies and books to their e-learning students. Thanks to the relationships we have built both locally and nationwide through the years, we have been able to deliver over 50,000 books to our partners and families in 19 states, the Navajo Nation... We call our new model of service physically distanced, socially engaged programming. I don’t like the term social distancing because it feels isolating.

We haven’t been socially distant from our families or teachers, just physically distanced. The beautiful thing about books and stories is that they connect and comfort. When the pandemic started, I was inspired to see how many celebrities, athletes, politicians and world leaders took to social media to read stories aloud. These public figures turned to their favorite children’s stories as a source of comfort. That proved something to me that I have believed for a long time and that’s that stories comfort and connect us. I say that this pandemic has taught us about resilience and growth because even when we are able to return to a more traditional model of outreach, we will be able to keep the...

We are considering setting up a teacher/parent free bookstore here at the office storage when we find new permanent storage. We really need a stand-alone building where we can receive pallet and freight deliveries and host volunteer sorting/bundling events for distributions as we are growing. We were also impacted heavily by tropical storm ETA. Unfortunately, our storage flooded with 3 feet of rushing bay water. We lost over 3500 books. We were able to save at least that many and move them to temporary storage at our office.

We are completing that move today. Even with that happening, we will be able to deliver over 2,500 books to students at six local schools, Tampa Housing Authority and ELC this week. We are grateful to be able to continue our work through what has been a very trying year. We continue to be inspired by our students and teachers and other community partners that just won’t give up on seeing our students and families succeed. Thank you all for everything you do to make this community stronger. We appreciate your support.”

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