BANGOR, Maine – Dirigo Reads, a program that aims to put a book in the hands of every Maine first grader each month during the school year, is announcing the addition of 27 schools to the program, bringing the number of schools served by Dirigo Reads to 136 to reach more than 4,400 first graders throughout the state.
Presque Isle is among the new school districts in Aroostook County, joining those in
Caribou, Easton, Frenchville, Madawaska, Mars Hill, St. Agatha and Van Buren.
“Dirigo Reads expansion into new schools is allowing more kids to have the experience of receiving a brand new book every month of the school year,” Dan Cashman, co-founder and board chair of Dirigo Reads, said. “These children get to read the books in class, keep them and discover what makes them hopefully fall in love with reading, creativity and art. The 27 schools are in 21 different communities, spread over 11 counties in Maine. They range from large schools like the Windham Primary School with more than 200 first graders, to smaller schools like Beals Elementary School in Washington County with seven first graders. The geographic footprint of this year’s additions is large, and we couldn’t be happier to see it touch so many parts of Maine.”
Dirigo Reads’ mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of children in Maine through literacy and share a little optimism along the way. This is accomplished by giving first graders in participating schools a brand new book to keep during every month of the school year. Since its founding in 2019, Dirigo Reads has distributed about 103,000 books to first graders in participating schools.
“This expansion, and the life of this program wouldn’t be possible without our fabulous partners, as well as the TD Beach To Beacon 10K race,” Cashman said. “Our program was named as the race beneficiary for the 2026 edition, and it allowed us to push forward and not only plan for the 2026-27 school year, but add more than 800 kids to this program. We are extremely thankful to Joan Benoit Samuelson, the race committee, and the folks at TD for helping to ensure that first graders statewide are able to have access to books of their very own.”
