PageTurners: Girls Who Read to Achieve, Inc.

"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader." -Margaret Fuller

Declines in reading achievement during middle school, significant gaps in minority reading achievement, and low self-esteem leading to high-risk behavior among adolescent girls contribute to cycles of poverty and low academic achievement. PageTurners harnesses the power of reading and female community to reverse these trends, break the cycles of poverty and low achievement they cause, and inspire active leadership among girls. To achieve this goal, PageTurners is building a network of school-based afterschool book clubs that use the discussion of literature as a tool for empowering at-risk middle school girls to become self-confident leaders in their communities while improving their reading and critical thinking skills. PageTurners book clubs reframe reading from a task required to pass tests to an outlet for self-exploration, activism and enjoyment, thereby engaging girls as a supported community of readers who will become active participants in their education and empowered change agents.