What We Do
Welcome to Book Dreams Canada. We are a registered Canadian charity devoted to supporting literacy in communities that have limited access to books. We aim to promote a love for reading, and build and support the community of people who find joy, learning, and wisdom in the world of books. Our initial projects prioritize communicating with Indigenous libraries about their literary needs and helping to fulfill them.
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Since our founding, we have developed relationships with schools, libraries, and friendship centres that support Indigenous communities, learning about their their literary needs and working collaboratively to support their growth. ​
Recent Partnerships: ​​
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Chase Secondary School, a rural public secondary school serving about 60% First Nations students in south central British Columbia
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Logan Lake Secondary School, a public secondary school in the Kamloops-Thomson district of British Columbia
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Kumsheen ShchEma-meet School, a K-12 school in Lytton, British Columbia deeply affected by the wildfires in 2021
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Native Education College, a small, private college in Vancouver serving Indigenous learners
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Bruce Parisian Library, part of the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, which has served approximately 20,000 Indigenous people living off reserves in the greater Victoria areas
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Maskwacis Cultural College, a private post-secondary institution within the Four Nations of Maskwacis in Alberta.​
Recent Projects
Chase Secondary School
Chase Secondary School is a Grade 6-12 public school in a small community in south central British Columbia with about 265 students. The Village of Chase has a population of about 2,500 and serves three neighbouring First Nation Bands. Many students from these communities attend the school. Being a smaller rural school, their library receives very limited funding.
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In 2023, Book Dreams Canada began supporting Chase's library by purchasing new books to update their aging collection. The school chose to purchase easy-readers, novels, and picture books, including a large number of stories by indigenous authors to more accurately reflect the school’s cultural make-up. Popular graphic novels and modern fiction titles were also added to the library.
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The grant also allowed the school to acquire four new, movable shelving units. In order to stretch the funding as much as possible, the Librarian connected with the school district’s in-house carpenters, two very talented women, who built durable and very attractive shelves at a lower cost than first estimated.
With the in-house builds saving some of the funds, there was an opportunity to do even more! The school’s Librarian designed a custom mobile furniture piece that included four individual spaces for students to comfortably sit alone to read or study. The unit also provided additional shelving and display space as well as additional under-seat storage that was all on heavy duty casters, keeping the library space multi-use. The unit is able to be separated into four sections should future space allow for more individual pods. Again, the district carpenters helped with the build, donating the wood while the extra funding from Book Dreams Canada covered all of the heavy duty hardware for the unit. The Librarian also engaged the school’s Parent Advisory Committee to support purchasing the materials to make the covered cushions for the units.
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Once the frame was complete, the Librarian set to work to make the cushions and covers by hand to keep the cost as low as possible. At the end of the project, there was even enough funds left to add some low- cost lighting to the book shelves.
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In 2024, a second grant was provided to the school from Book Dreams Canada to further renew the school’s collection. The school chose to add to their non-fiction collection and to continue expanding the graphic novel, indigenous, and diversity collection. They were also able to purchase four more moveable book shelving units.
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The library space was greatly improved; students and staff alike loved the new and inviting space. By the end of June 2025, the new reading carousel was completed and in daily use by students.
Kumsheen ShchEma-meet School
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Kumsheen ShchEma-meet School is a K-12 public school in Lytton, BC in the Gold Trail school district. The school serves 68 students who are primarily from one of seven first nation bands that surround Lytton; 94% of their students are of Indigenous ancestry. The town of Lytton is slowly rebuilding after the 2021 forest fires wiped out most of the town, including its elementary school. The elementary and high school now share a campus and are continuing to rebuild and grow together.
Support from Book Dreams Canada has offered Kumsheen ShchEma-meet School the opportunity to overhaul their library so they can better meet the needs and wants of their students. They have been able to purchase books to fill the gaps in new genre areas and add variety to the ability levels offered. Also, students' interest in books has increased with the overhaul, as they have been able to purchase genres and titles that pique their interest.
Logan Lake Secondary School
Logan Lake Secondary School is nestled in the town of Logan Lake in the Kamloops-Thomson District of British Columbia and is situated on the territories of the Skeetchestn and Tk’emlups te Secwepemc People. It shares a campus with Logan Lake Elementary School, serving a combined population of 270 students from Grades K-12.
Book Dreams Canada supported the purchase of a variety of new books, including new graphic novels, nonfiction, and high-interest/low-vocabulary books from ORCA Publishing, along with comfortable seating for the library. A special effort was made to purchase books that reflected the Indigenous population that uses the library.
Eve Yohalem
is co-owner of Books & Cake, a bookstore in Hillsdale, New York, and an award-winning author of middle grade novels. She is co-founder and co-host of Book Dreams, a podcast for book lovers, and co-founder and treasurer of Book Dreams Inc., a not-for-profit organization in the United States that is devoted to promoting a love for reading. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia University. From 2003-2023, Eve served on the board of Sadie Nash Leadership Project, a not-for-profit entity that provides experiential social justice education to young women and gender-expansive youth in New York City and Newark, NJ.
Julie Sternberg
is co-owner of Books & Cake, a bookstore in Hillsdale, New York, and an award-winning author of nine books for children. She is co-founder and co-host of Book Dreams, a podcast for book lovers, and co-founder and president of Book Dreams Inc., a not-for-profit organization in the United States that is devoted to promoting a love for reading. Before becoming a writer she was a lawyer in the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union for almost a decade. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University, a law degree from Harvard Law School, and an MFA in creative writing from the New School.
Michal Hershkovitz
has been Assistant Head of School, Academics at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn since 2019. She joined Poly Prep as Chair of the History Department in 2011. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan, a master’s in international relations from Yale University, and an M.Phil. in political science from Columbia University.
Sara Furnival
is an educator in the Upper Grand District School Board in Guelph, Ontario. She is currently teaching Grade 2 at Westminster Woods Public School and was a Teacher Librarian for the past 12 years. She holds a Bachelor of Education degree from OISE University of Toronto; a Master of Education from York University; and an Honours Bachelor of Arts from Dalhousie University.
Deborah Swain
As Book Dreams Canada's Program Consultant for British Columbia, Deborah connects with and guides grant recipients through our funding programs. Deborah’s professional background involves working with many diverse populations and includes roles in education, community development, management, recreation, and the arts. For the past 10 years she worked as a librarian in both elementary and secondary schools.
Eve and Julie
also co-host the
Book Dreams Podcast.
“Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.”
― Jane Smiley
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