Established 2007

The purpose of Readers Are Leaders is to instill the love of reading in young students by having volunteers read in their classrooms on a regular basis.
Click here to see the 2024-2025 Readers Are Leaders Book List.
Click here to learn about the history of Readers Are Leaders.

Readers Are Leaders volunteers entertain, enlighten and encourage the students as they read quality, age-appropriate literature to them including books about science, biographies and fiction. On each visit members read two books that are then donated to the classroom library along with enrichment activities to instill a love of reading and to improve the quality and quantity of the classroom library for in-class reading.

ALSJ is happy to announce a new partnership between ALSJ and San Jose’s main MLK library in downtown San Jose. Senior Librarian Elizabeth Nolan is collaborating with our Readers Are Leaders program to source books for consideration prior to each school year. This process of sourcing through the library is sustainable and repeatable and we are very excited to have the support of the library’s resources and expertise. 

During the holiday season each student is gifted a book of facts about various topics. Several other times each year, each student also receives a paperback book. And, at the end of the school year, every student receives 3 books to keep and read over the summer. Today’s readers are tomorrow’s readers!