This month, PJ Library of Kansas City is on track to send out more books than ever before in the program’s 18-year history.

More than 1,000 children (1,008, to be exact) across the Kansas City metro, from the Northland to South Overland Park and Topeka to Columbia, will receive PJ Library books. This exceeds the previous record of 1,000 books shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

PJ Library is a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and is funded locally by Jewish Federation of Kansas City. It provides books that represent Jewish values, traditions, holidays and teachings, delivered to households across the world each month.

Jewish Federation Family Engagement Manager Bridey Stangler is the coordinator of PJ Library in Kansas City. She said the books serve as a point of connection for families across the metro.

“For a really large percentage of kids who receive PJ books nationally, that is the only Jewish thing that enters their household,” Stangler said. “To know that we are reaching more kids than ever, to get that Jewish content in their homes and connect them more closely with their traditions, their customs and our community… nothing beats that.”

Stangler added that even for children who have other Jewish influences in their lives, PJ Library’s books show a wide range of representations, extending far past one sector/denomination or practice.

“I think what is so beautiful about the PJ Library books is that [they] show such a diversity of people and a normalization of practice, but also show you just how many countless ways there are to be Jewish,” Stangler said. “I think it’s really valuable for Jewish kids to see Jewish kids represented by the Jewish people. It’s easy to find representations which are positive, negative or neutral, put out there by the rest of the world, but to know that these are interpretations that we ourselves have created, I think that’s very powerful. The power of PJ Library books is their ability to make Judaism feel very normal.”

The books come free to families with Jewish children across the metro. Jewish Federation covers the $40-per-year cost per child, supported through donations to its Community Campaign.

“We are so grateful to the families that have made it possible for us to reach so many children, and we are eager to see more people engaging in their Jewish community through the work of PJ Library and Jewish Federation,” Stangler said.

PJ Library’s reach in Kansas City goes far beyond monthly books. PJ Library events provide opportunities for community connection and engagement for families with young children.

Stangler said PJ Library is on target to engage more families than ever before this summer through its signature PJ Library in the Neighborhood (PJIN) series.

PJIN events serve as a casual and approachable way for families to gather in spaces like parks, splashpads and public libraries to connect with community outside of traditionally Jewish spaces like the Jewish Community Campus. They are hosted across the metro in an effort to reach families who live in areas with smaller Jewish populations.

Stangler said PJIN events have helped families connect to those in their proximity, build networks of Jewish friends for their children and feel like a part of the community at large. Last year, PJ Library of Kansas City received international recognition for its success in reaching families and leading cutting-edge events and programs like PJIN.

In summer 2026, PJ Library is expanding the PJIN initiative to involve parents in building community through its PJ Library Connector program.

“There are so many people that we seek to engage in our community, and we’re doing grassroots community engagement at the very basic level,” Stangler said.

Four PJ Library parents will work in their neighborhoods, connecting parents to one another, hosting PJ Library in the Neighborhood events and ensuring that members of the Kansas City Jewish community feel welcome and comfortable attending community events.

To Stangler, the PJ Library Connector program is just another step forward for a program that is steadily increasing its impact.

“We’re going to have more PJ Library in the Neighborhoods than ever. We’re going to be connecting more people than ever, and that also comes right at the time where we’re shipping more books than ever,” she said.

Registration for the first four PJ in the Neighborhood events of 2026 is open now:

  • Harmon Park in Prairie Village, Wednesday, June 10, 5-6:30 p.m.
  • Dagg Park in The Northland, Saturday, June 13, 5-6:30 p.m.
  • Ironwoods Park in South Leawood, Sunday, June 14, 3:30-5 p.m.
  • Roe Park Splash Pad in Overland Park, Thursday, June 25, 4:30-6 p.m.

More information and registration is available at JewishKansasCity.org/Events. Donations to Jewish Federation’s Community Campaign, which helps support PJ Library of Kansas City, can be made at JewishKansasCity.org/Donate.