SPRINGFIELD -- Build a home library and children will read. That's the premise of a $6 million federally funded book giveaway program aimed at promoting early literacy for 17,000 high-needs ...

Named for the preschool teacher who, in the mid-1980s, sought to teach the fundamentals of reading, Bob Books began as a homegrown business run by Bobby Lynn Maslen and her illustrator husband John.

The new building would contain 12,000 square feet of classroom space for its preschool programs. Also contemplated, at additional cost, is a separate full-size gymnasium. The Lee Youth Association is ...