Hands Across The Sea
We Believe that Every Child Should Grow Up Reading
Founded by bluewater sailors Tom and Harriet Linskey in 2007, Hands Across the Sea, a U.S. 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, has been raising child literacy levels in the Eastern Caribbean by sending new books asked for by teachers and school principals, creating and rejuvenating lending libraries (usually at schools), and fostering sustainability with ongoing monitoring and support.
Hands Across the Sea has reached over 78,660 children at 336 schools, community libraries, and reading programs and shipped more than 372,360 brand new, amazing books.
The students range in age from pre-school to high school and they are children who otherwise would not have access to age-appropriate and culturally-relevant books. We work in the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean countries of Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. These are beautiful islands and famous tourist destinations whose governments and economies are quietly challenged with providing educational resources to serve their youngest citizens. Books are expensive and incredibly hard to come by in these countries and it is joyous seeing how these children respond to new, enticing books.
1Send New Amazing Books
We send only brand new library books (not textbooks) from 26 of the world’s leading education and children’s book publishers. We ask school principals and librarians to submit a Hands Wish List specifying their child-literacy needs, and we do our best to meet each school’s specific requests.
2Create/Rejuvenate Lending Libraries
The Hands team works hands-on with each school to create and sustain a vibrant, child-friendly lending library that becomes the center of literacy at the school. The proven methodology of the Hands Across the Sea Library Manual for Primary Schools helps schools color-code the new books, create a simple checkout system, and start a sustainable, child-friendly lending library.
3Sustain the Literacy Gains
Our on-island Hands Literacy Links (retired educators and literacy-minded professionals) mentor and monitor the principals and teachers at each school to make sure that the new books and lending library are fully utilized year after year.
Visit handsacrossthesea.net for more information, or
