Books

Taylor Swift Donates 25,000 Books To NYC Schools

She saw a blank space and she filled it — on school bookshelves, that is. On Wednesday, Taylor Swift donated 25,000 books to New York City schools, as part of a partnership with the Scholastic Possible Fund. The books were distributed evenly among 25 schools in need of new reading material for students.

Education-focused giving isn't out of character for Swift. In February, the singer-songwriter donated $50,000 to NYC schools, just a few weeks after being named the most charitable celebrity of 2014.

Since October 2014, Swift has worked with Scholastic to encourage reading among schoolchildren. Their partnership is part of the publisher's "Open a World of Possible" campaign, which aims to foster lifelong love affairs between children and books.

Well-stocked school libraries are a critical part of reaching that goal. Scholastic's 2014 Kids and Family Reading Report found that "[91] percent of children ages 6–17 say 'my favorite books are the ones that I have picked out myself.'" Nearly twice as many children from low-income families read for fun in school settings than their more affluent peers. For many children, then, school libraries are their only source of books, and having a broad selection increases their chances of finding something that interests them.

Some people might remember Swift standing in a nice dress and staring at the sunset, but the kids of the NYC school system will much more vividly remember her book nerdy charity.