Welcome to our story

Every reader has an origin story — that first book that opened a door and pulled them inside. BloomREADS exists open those doors even wider, and in new spaces, so that every child in our community has that same opportunity to step through.

Born from the vision of Jenna Bowman, who dreamed up the Bloomington Book Festival back in 2023, BloomREADS is the Festival’s year-round literacy project — a pragmagical micromovement dedicated to planting the seeds of imagination, access, and joy.

For months, we’ve been meeting, dreaming, and building creative ways to support our newest readers and their families. Our mission is to:

• Nurture the skill and love of reading through innovative programs.

• Increase access by planting books throughout our community.

• Empower families with free literacy toolkits.

This week, we’re blooming into action!

Friday, October 24 – Making our official debut at the John Green & Michael Koryta event at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre.

Saturday, October 25 - Visit us at the Vender Expo & Local Author Fair at the Dimension Mill between 11AM and 6PM

We’re also thrilled to partner with Tandem, creating an in-house BloomBox collection for families and developing new literacy toolkits to spark curiosity and connection.

We’re small, but our vision is big — to see things as they are and respond imaginatively.

If you believe, like we do, that the world needs more reading magic, we’d love for you to join us.