There is still a little time!

Help Us to the Finish Line of Book Olympics!

Book Olympics is the 2024 RIF NOVA fun- and fund-raiser to provide books for Northern Virginia children. Be part of our giving team as we cross the line into 2025!

Our most critical need is funding! We supply one new book each to 20,000 NOVA children through our Books for Keeps program. At $4.00 per book, that's a LOT of money to raise each year. Click here to donate! We also supply donated books via our Books in the Community program to neighbors who need them. Children visiting Alexandria's Rising Hope Mission Church got books just in time for the holiday, and some met with Santa, too! Help us make a difference in children's lives! Thank you to all who have contributed so far!

The Book Olympics Story Board Winners are...

Many of you submitted your sports stories to our Book Olympics Story Board contest. A RIF NOVA board panel picked the winners -- pictured below. Each winner will receive a bookstore gift certificate. Click here to read ALL the wonderful stories that were submitted. Thanks to all who contributed to this fun-raising element of Book Olympics!

Meet Author Hena Khan!

In keeping with our Book Olympics sports theme, our Celebrating Local Authors page features Hena Khan, with a focus on her graphic sports novel, We Are Big Time. Cheer courtside for a Muslim teen as she joins an all-girls, hijab-wearing basketball team and learns that she’s much more than a score. This novel is inspired by a true story!

Hena Khan has been publishing books for children for over two decades, many of which center on Pakistani American and Muslim characters in tribute to her own heritage, She writes in a multitude of formats, including picture books, middle grade fiction, pick-your-path adventures, and graphic novels. The author participated in our Authors in Our Schools program, too!

(photo credit: Zoshia Minto)

Read! Write! Believe! Author Gabriella Aldeman

Author Gabriella Aldeman introduced herself to children at two RIF NOVA schools in November and December as part of our Authors in Our Schools program. She told the children, you have to read -- a lot! You have to write -- a lot! The most important ingredient, she said, is that, "You have to believe you can be an author!" At both schools, she engaged the children with great ideas about how to write a children's story, how to get it published, and how the children could become authors themselves! All the children received an autographed copy of one of the author's books.

First and fifth graders at Crestwood Elementary School in Fairfax County read Paula's Patches -- about using patches to recycle, reuse, and repurpose.

Marumsco Hills (PWC) 2nd and 3rd graders read Squawk of Spanish about a boy who learns to communicate with his Spanish-speaking abuela (grandmother).

If you'd like to support our Authors in Our Schools program in Arlington, you CAN! Every "Giving Season," the Arlington Community Foundation hosts the Nonprofit Holiday Wish Catalog featuring grant ideas from local nonprofits.

RIF NOVA is on the list this season and is requesting funding to continue our very successful Authors in Our Schools program. This is yet another way to support RIF NOVA programming!

AES and Budding Builders -- Take Two!

Volunteers from the Arlington energy company AES met with Barcroft Elementary 5th graders on December 10, following up on their earlier fall visit with 4th graders. The children were tasked with mapping out the transfer of solar energy from the sun into home use. It took a video and some serious thinking and discussion with the AES experts, but then the kids began to draw their ideas, followed by the chance to pick an AES-provided STEM book. A few pics are below and more can be found by clicking here!

Books for Keeps Program Updates!

Those Darn Squirrels! Falling for Books! A fiction vs. nonfiction contest! Breakfast and a visit from Clifford! These themes were featured in recent Books for Keeps distributions at RIF NOVA schools and programs. Your dollars fund new books for children who need them the most! And you can see from these photos that the distributions are full of active learning and active fun! Find details by clicking here.

A reading of the book, Those Darn Squirrels had the children of Potomac View Elementary in stitches as they excitedly yelled out some of the book's phrases to cue cards: "I hate puppies!" "I hate pie!" "Dun, Dun, Dunnn!" "Thhbbtz!" and "Those darn squirrels!" 

Using their spatial skills, the kids then set up dominoes to try to knock squirrel cutouts off their tables! What a clever RIF NOVA book distribution for children at this Prince William County school -- complete with a brand new book to take home for keeps!

Thankful for books at Bel Air Elementary

Fiction vs Nonfiction at Sinclair ES -- what did the voters decide?

Fairfax County PreK and Early Head Start

Your funds help with all these programs and MORE! In addition to online donations, below are some other ways to give!

Send a check:



Reading is Fundamental of Northern Virginia, Inc. 

P.O. Box 7012

Arlington, VA 22207-0012

From now through January 15, 2025, Federal employees and retirees can support RIF NOVA through the Combined Federal Campaign. We are #18818.

If you are required to take a distribution from your IRA, consider RIF NOVA! Reduce your taxes potentially -- while benefiting local kids, too! Learn more here.

Thank you for any donation -- no matter how big or small!

Thank you for being part of the RIF NOVA community!

Books change lives!

RIF NOVA | info@rifnova.org | www.rifnova.org

STAY CONNECTED