Frequently Asked Questions

What is Busload of Books?

Busload of Books is a nonprofit organization that provides free books and creative programming to kids in underserved communities across the US—direct from author/illustrator duo Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr (that’s us!)

Our Work Includes:

Author/illustrator visits to ten Title I elementary schools each year—five in-person with the bus and five virtually.

A partnership with First Book and Build-A-Bear Foundation that provides a free book for every student and teacher in every school we visit.

Daily and weekly video content for Title I students and educators—from creative tips and prompts to studio check-ins and drawing demos.

Coordination with Washington College to collect data and expand the impact of a landmark research project.

Why do you visit schools?

Author/illustrator visits boost reading and creativity—increasing student interest in books and energizing school communities—yet many public schools can’t afford them.

We bring free books and free creative programming to communities where both are in short supply, promoting reading and creative expression as a bridge to literacy and empowerment.

We support and spotlight hard-working educators who give their all every day in the face of limited resources and challenging conditions.

We’re both products of Title I education, and our four kids attend Title I schools. We see how hard their teachers work in crowded classrooms, with not enough support, often paying for supplies with their own money. We see them called upon to do so much more than teach—also tending to the emotional needs and safety of students struggling with food insecurity, trauma, and challenging home situations.

We can’t fix the underlying problem, but we hope to create experiences and programming that bring inspiration, joy, and energy to America’s Title I communities—while celebrating the work of the educators who show up every day for their students.

How did you get the idea for this project?

As an author and illustrator, we often get invited to visit elementary schools to talk about creativity and collaboration. The benefits and impact are immediate and clear, but author/illustrator visits are often expensive, and many public schools can’t afford them.

Over the past ten years, we’ve done dozens of free school visits and book giveaways at Title I schools across the country, and the results are always the same—kids get excited about reading and creating. Teachers gain thematic touchstones and reference points. The entire school community gets a boost.

Our year-long tour brought the project to a national level—connecting with kids in communities across the country and demonstrating that there are struggling schools in every state, prompting the people following our adventure to recognize that no matter where they live, there’s likely a Title I school nearby that could use their support.

What was the spark?

A few years ago, we got a call from a generous friend offering a no-strings-attached $30,000 grant with the charge to “do something awesome.” We’d always dreamed of traveling the country giving away books but were always daunted by the cost and complexity. The grant inspired us to think big and aim high. The result was the Busload of Books.

Over the past six years of imagining, running, and growing this project, we’ve raised more than $300,000 from more than 1,500 individual donors to fund and fuel our ongoing work. So many people have shared stories about the foundational impact of books in their own lives and how happy it makes them to help bring the joy and power of reading to others.

How do you pick the schools you visit?

We partner with First Book, a national literacy nonprofit that has spent the past thirty years providing free and low-cost educational materials to a nationwide network of 600,000 educators.

Every year, First Book invites a subset of their membership to apply for our Tour. From hundreds of applicants, we (painstakingly) choose ten schools.

The selection process is incredibly difficult. Ultimately, we try to prioritize schools where our visit and book giveaway might make the biggest impact while attempting to achieve a balance of school sizes, settings, and demographics.

Here’s our cohort of schools for the 2025-2026 school year.

We’ll be doing ten more Busload visits each year! If you’re interested in receiving an application to apply for a future cohort, sign up to become a First Book member (it’s free!). Members also get access to First Book’s extensive online Marketplace of highest quality books available at steep discounts to Title I educators.

How will you serve schools you’re not visiting?

We have two virtual offerings available to any Title I student or educator.

The Robbi and Matthew Show

Ten-minute videos for Title I classrooms—offering tips, prompts, music, demos, and a chance to hang out with an author and illustrator. Find us on YouTube.

The Studio Minute

Frequent 60-second studio check-ins providing creative tips, demos and, peeks into our studio. Available on YouTube or TikTok.

Wait. Did your yearlong tour distribute 25,000 books or 150,000 books?

Yes! A three-way partnership with First Book and Build-A-Bear Foundation expanded the Tour’s overall reach from an original 25,000 to 150,000 books. As we traveled the country giving away 25,000 copies of our own books, Build-A-Bear Foundation funded the distribution of 125,000 more books through the First Book Marketplace—giving thousands of Title I educators in schools we didn’t visit the opportunity to select titles that best meet the specific needs of their communities. Build-A-Bear Foundation also provided 25,000 a free “reading buddy” teddy bears—one for each student in every school we visited.

Tell us more about your bus. 

Our friend Brian converted a 24-foot Thomas school bus into a rolling home that somehow managed to fit our family of six people and two dogs. The bus has a galley kitchen, a cozy dining nook that converts to a “master bedroom,” and a 6’x10’ pop-up sleeping area for the kids on the roof. We don’t have a bathroom because there simply isn’t room. (Having sampled 917 over the course of our travels, we rate our nation’s solid bathrooms a solid B+.)

How can I access your online programming?

Our YouTube Channel hosts episodes of our (yet-to-be-named weekly show for Title I educators) and our (mostly) daily Studio Minutes. 

Our TikTok hosts our Studio Minutes and other miscellaneous reels. 

Our Instagram offers Studio Minutes and photo essays about our adventures.

All Busload of Books content is geared toward (and appropriate for) elementary-aged students.

To follow our lives as creators, you can follow the Robbi and Matthew channels on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. 

What’s this about a research project?

For the past five years, we’ve been partnering with the departments of education and sociology at Washington College to conduct the first-ever, large-scale study of how author/illustrator visits impact elementary student attitudes about literacy. The data have revealed a clear spike in enthusiasm for reading, writing, and drawing among all emementary age groups in the wake of our visits. 

The resulting data is providing powerful tools for administrators and teachers to fund and advocate for future literacy programming—and for teachers to make the most out of these enriching experiences.

Meet our research team:

If you have questions about the research project, please contact the research team directly by clicking the button below.

What books are you giving away?

PreK-2nd grade students and teachers recieve a free copy of Everywhere, Wonder (Macmillan), a book about noticing and appreciating the world’s wonders—both grand and ordinary.

In the presentation for this age group, we explain how we work together as author and illustrator to imagine and create a picture book—while emphasizing themes of observation, discovery, and storytelling.

The 3rd-6th graders and their teachers receive our illustrated middle-grade novel Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom (Random House), a book about a literal-minded boy who misunderstands the meaning of his fortune cookie fortune and thinks he has just one day to live. It’s a book about figuring out what’s most important and living life to its fullest.

In the related presentation, we describe our creative process and the wonderful weirdness of language—using proverbs as a framework for sharing empowering ideas and encouraging creative exploration.

Why are you giving away your own books?

Every student and teacher at every school we visit receives a copy of a book that Matthew wrote and Robbi illustrated. Part of the magic of these visits is kids getting a chance to see that authors and illustrators are just regular people. Which helps kids realize they can write and draw and tell their own stories, too. Getting a book created by someone they met creates a personal connection that makes it far more likely the kid will actually read it—and maybe start writing their own story.

Tell us more about you two.

We (Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr) are a husband/wife, author/illustrator duo who have been making books together for nearly two decades. We have four kids, an insecure snuffler named Dumbles, and an alien fur bug named Goji.

We spent a decade running two small presses and self-publishing more than 70 illustrated picture books for children and adults.

Over the past ten years, we’ve made books with Random House, Macmillan, Little Brown, and Chronicle. Our commercial titles include the critically acclaimed Cookie Chronicles middle-grade series, The Real McCoys trilogy (also middle grade), and the picture books Sunrise Summer, Babies Ruin Everything, and Everywhere, Wonder.

Our books have been honored by the American Library Association, selected by Bank Street and the CCBC, named “books of the month” by Amazon editors, received six starred reviews, were nominated for seventeen state book awards, and won Japan’s Sakura Medal. Almost all were JLG “Gold Star” selections.

Our books and literacy projects have been featured on/in/by: The Drew Barrymore Show, the Washington Post, Forbes, People magazine, Entertainment Weekly, LinkedIn’s Hello Monday podcast, and Family Circle.

What makes us proudest is hearing from librarians, teachers, and parents that our books create a welcoming and comfortable space for beginning and hesitant readers to find their footing and discover the pleasures (and benefits) of reading.

When not advocating for local schools, giving talks on creative entrepreneurship, or running a summer salmon fishing operation on the Alaskan tundra, we live in an old barn on the Eastern Shore of Maryland—two blocks from the house where Robbi grew up.

We’ve been at it for almost two decades now but feel like we’re just getting started.

What’s this about Alaska?

Our family spends six weeks every summer in Alaska, running a commercial salmon-fishing operation from our off-grid cabin near the native village of Egegik on the banks of Bristol Bay.

When Robbi was 18 months old, her parents bought a piece of land on the Alaskan tundra, which is why Robbi grew up spending each summer filleting salmon, mending gill nets, and fishing for 36 hours without eating or sleeping. Robbi and her brother now run the family business with help from Matthew and our older kids.

Our picture book Sunrise Summer tells the story of our daughter’s first season as a member of the fishing crew.

And here’s the story of how our new tundra cabin was built in a whirlwind 17 days.

How are you funding your organization?

The books we give away are are funded through our partnership with First Book and Build-A-Bear Foundation. All other expenses are covered entirely by contributions from our donors.

How can I contribute?

Donations of any amount are much appreciated and can be made through our fundraising platform Givebutter—which accepts payments via credit card, Paypal, Venmo, Apple Pay, and ACH bank transfer, and Donor-Advised Funds. All donations are tax-exempt. 

I want to interview you two.

Sounds good. Please fill out our inquiry form, and we’ll set something up.

I want to propose a partnership.