Miami, FL  – The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy hosted its Florida Celebration of Reading on Thursday, February 27, 2025, in Coral Gables. This signature event, held to raise support for the Barbara Bush Foundation’s nationwide literacy work, featured appearances by New York Times bestselling authors and special guests including Coco Mellors, Jessica Soffer and Governor Jeb Bush, as well as a video message from Jenna Bush Hager.

The program also highlighted the Barbara Bush Foundation’s long history of service and impact in the South Florida area. For more than 20 years, its reading mentoring programs have helped area students build literacy skills and confidence. Today, the Foundation supports 28 programs in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The programs achieve impressive results, with participating students achieving literacy gains at three times the rate of their peers.

Governor Jeb Bush, who led the launch of these programs in 2002, shared his thoughts on their continued importance and impact.

“When children are taught to read, they can have the biggest dreams possible. The light bulb moment when a child’s hard work is rewarded and they figure it out is one of the most exciting things in the world,” said Governor Jeb Bush. “My hope and dream is that these programs continue to expand and exist across the county because they really matter.”

The evening’s featured authors, Coco Mellors and Jessica Soffer, also shared remarks on the power of literacy.

“Through every stage of my life, I have turned to stories for comfort and guidance,” said Coco Mellors, author of “Blue Sisters.” “Books are a light in the dark. They are a buoy in choppy waters. But mostly they are a reminder that we are connected to every human being who has or ever will live, as well as every version of ourselves, because whatever the book is, its message is fundamentally the same: no matter who you are or what you have been through, you are never, ever alone.”

“We should all be eligible for the gift of literacy. It is a gift that I have never once taken for granted for myself, or for my child,” said Jessica Soffer, author of “This Is a Love Story.” “What I discover, more and more and more, is that books and language do what nothing else can. They bridge gaps, develop imagination, lead us toward empathy, and bring us closer to love.”

Both authors’ most recent works (“Blue Sisters” by Coco Mellors and “This Is a Love Story” by Jessica Soffer) are New York Times bestsellers, as well as TODAY’s Read with Jenna book club selections. Read with Jenna is participating in the Foundation’s series of Celebration of Reading events throughout the year. Jenna Bush Hager provided a special message to Florida Celebration of Reading attendees via video.

The event was co-chaired by Sandra and Jeb Bush, Jr., and Raquel A. “Rocky” Rodriquez.

The Florida Celebration of Reading was one in a series of events in the Foundation’s Barbara Bush Centennial – a yearlong series of special initiatives honoring the 100^th anniversary of Barbara Bush’s birth.

Over the course of 2025, the Barbara Bush Centennial will also include Celebration of Reading events in Kennebunkport, Maine, Dallas, Texas, and Washington, D.C.; special initiatives highlighting Barbara Bush’s extraordinary life and legacy; and the launch of new family literacy programming.

While in Miami, the Foundation launched one of its special Centennial initiatives in partnership with Miami-Dade Public Library System’s Coral Gables Branch Library. Local parents, caregivers, and children gathered at the library for a story time centered around the Foundation’s new Literacy Explorer Kits. These kits include the materials needed to host a family literacy event – including customized guides and parent materials for children’s books “Little Blue Truck,” “The Day You Begin,” and “First Ladies Make History.” Families will go home with materials to support them in continuing to learn and play together.

As part of the Centennial, the Foundation is shipping free Literacy Explorer Kits to 100 sites nationwide, including libraries, family literacy programs and community organizations. The kits were created with generous support from HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Random House, Anita and Giovanna McBride, and the White House Historical Association.

About the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy: The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has been the nation’s leading advocate for family literacy for more than three decades. Established by former First Lady Barbara Bush in 1989, today the Foundation is a public charity providing high-quality programs, resources, education initiatives, and research to help families and communities nationwide build brighter futures through literacy. Learn more at www.BarbaraBush.org.