{"id":68256,"date":"2025-07-16T22:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T22:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/68256\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T22:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T22:17:11","slug":"jacksonville-4-year-olds-to-receive-one-free-book-each-month-through-the-mayors-book-club-action-news-jax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/68256\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville 4-year-olds to receive one free book each month through The Mayor\u2019s Book Club \u2013 Action News Jax"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Mayor Donna Deegan and former Mayor John Peyton are teaming up to expand access to books for children in Jacksonville. <\/p>\n

The Gate Foundation and former Mayor Peyton announced a $1 million donation on Wednesday to fund the revival and expansion of his original book club, which began during his term<\/p>\n

Now reimagined as The Mayor\u2019s Book Club, it will help provide one free book to every four-year-old in Jacksonville each month.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Former Mayor John Peyton Former Mayor John Peyton donates to revive free book distribution for children.
\nPhoto: Wes Lester\/City of Jacksonville (Wes Lester\/City of Jacksonville)<\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen John launched his book club nearly two decades ago, he planted a powerful seed,\u201d said Mayor Deegan. \u201cToday, we\u2019re helping that seed grow into something extraordinary\u2014fueling imagination, curiosity, and literacy for thousands of children across Jacksonville.\u201d<\/p>\n

The books will be mailed out countywide or distributed in childcare centers for the next four years under the administration of the Kids Hope Alliance. Details on how to register will be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

The announcement builds on the momentum of Mayor Deegan\u2019s River City Readers initiative, aimed at increasing reading time and literacy in young children. The city said that recently, third-grade reading scores in Duval County rose above 50%.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mayor’s Book Club launches in Jacksonville Photo: Wes Lester\/City of Jacksonville (Wes Lester\/City of Jacksonville)<\/p>\n

Former Mayor Peyton said, \u201cI\u2019ve always believed in the power of books to change lives. By bringing this club back and expanding its reach, we are sending a powerful message: Every child in Jacksonville deserves the chance to discover the joy of reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

[SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n

Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Mayor Donna Deegan and former Mayor John Peyton are teaming up to expand access to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":68257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[7320,1022,7323,171,723,7324,24909,7310,7327,48343,48344,48341,7325,48342,7326,67,132,68,7322,7321],"class_list":{"0":"post-68256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-action-news-jax","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-cbs47","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-fox30","14":"tag-free-books","15":"tag-jacksonville","16":"tag-jacksonville-fl","17":"tag-john-peyton","18":"tag-mayor-donna-deegan","19":"tag-mayors-book-club","20":"tag-northeast-florida","21":"tag-river-city-readers","22":"tag-southeast-georgia","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-wfox","27":"tag-wjax"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114865231966090856","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}