PJ Our Way, the newest chapter of PJ Library for kids ages 9-11, is now available in Memphis!
After a successful pilot period which began in October of 2014, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation is thrilled to announce that PJ Our Way will now be available to tweens throughout the United States!
PJ Our Way has been bringing Jewish books into older children’s lives as effectively as PJ Library has done with younger children. And now kids in Memphis can join the thousands of kids around the country who are enjoying free books.
Building on the success of PJ Library, which gives the gift of Jewish children’s books each month to more than 150,000 children in North America, PJ Our Way allows program participants to select one of four books every month, giving them more choice on their journey toward being life-long readers while introducing them to Jewish ideas.
“We believe these stories and their values help shape young people in their understanding of being Jewish, and it’s our hope that PJ Our Way will ultimately build a strong community of young Jewish people,” said Harold Grinspoon, Founder of PJ Library and PJ Our Way.
As part of the program, PJ Our Way participants can create book trailers, videos, quizzes, author interviews, and other media to communicate with peers about the books. The PJ Our Way website provides these new avenues for discussion.
“We’ve thought a great deal about how to engage older readers by giving them more say in what they read and then giving them creative platforms to talk to their peers about the books,” said PJ Our Way Director Catriella 
Freedman.
One way in which PJ Our Way encourages kids to be creative is through participation in the national Design Team. Design team members have early access to books, create videos and reviews, interview authors, participate in workshops, and lead the conversation among their peers. PJ Our Way subscribers can apply to be a part of the national Design Team each October.
The PJ Our Way program is supported by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation based in Agawam, Massachusetts. PJ Library is funded by local philanthropists Billie and Joe Pierce Family and Memphis Jewish Federation in partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. Sign-up today.
About PJ Library
PJ Library is an award-winning Jewish family engagement program designed to strengthen the identities of Jewish families and their relationship to local Jewish community. Created by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, PJ Library started in 2005 by providing free, high-quality Jewish books and music each month to 200 families. Now, more than 150,000 children between the ages of six months and eight years receive the books in more than 200 communities in the United States and Canada. In addition, more than 260,000 schoolchildren in Israel receive Hebrew language, Jewish values-based books through PJ Library sister’s program, Sifriyat Pijama. PJ Library is also available in Australia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Russia, Latin America, and Singapore, with further international expansion anticipated. Originally inspired by Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library which sends books to children in underprivileged areas of the US, PJ Library (“PJ” is short for “pajamas”) strives to contribute to the magic that books bring to bedtime. The Harold Grinspoon Foundation works in partnerships with philanthropists and Jewish non-profit organizations to bring PJ Library to families raising Jewish children. For more information, visit www.pjlibrary.org.