This year’s Read Across Iowa was a tremendous success, engaging 83,000 participants statewide in a celebration of literacy and agriculture. The initiative brought books (a total of 5,000 distributed!), hands-on activities, and interactive events to communities, fostering a love of reading while connecting youth to food and farming. 

A key component was distributing 1,000 book kits to schools, libraries, and community organizations. Within each kit...