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Shine with Stories, a Chris Forsberg Literacy Foundation

A Chris Forsberg Literacy Foundation

Stories that help every child shine.

A national children's literacy foundation. We write original stories, build the learning resources that go with them, and work with schools, libraries, hospitals and community organizations to put those books in children's hands.

Shine with Stories, a Chris Forsberg Literacy Foundation

Our mission

Shine with Stories is dedicated to inspiring a lifelong love of reading by providing children and families with meaningful books, literacy support, and learning opportunities that spark imagination, build confidence, and brighten futures. Through the power of stories, we aim to help every child feel seen, encouraged, and empowered to grow.

The books are the tools. The children are the point.

Our vision

“A future in which every child has stories that help them read, understand themselves, care for others, and grow with confidence.”

Our mission, illustrated

The whole mission, on one page.

Liz Forsberg's poster puts the sunrise, the open book and the promise behind this foundation into one picture, small enough for a classroom wall and clear enough for a child who cannot read yet.

The official mission statement stays above, word for word. This artwork is the family's expression of the same purpose.

Every child deserves to shine.

Shine with Stories mission poster by Liz Forsberg: a golden sunburst rising over an open book, with the foundation's mission statement set beneath it.Open the full-size mission poster in a new tab.
Mission artwork by Liz Forsberg, Co-Founder, Executive Director & Creative Director. Open the full-size poster in a new tab.

Poster text: Shine with Stories is dedicated to inspiring a lifelong love of reading by providing children and families with meaningful books, literacy support, and learning opportunities that spark imagination, build confidence, and brighten futures. Through the power of stories, we aim to help every child feel seen, encouraged, and empowered to grow. Every child deserves to shine.

What we do

Three programs, one shelf.

The books are the tools. We use them to run educational programs, reach underserved children, support families and educators, and build community partnerships that outlast a single visit.

Books With Purpose

Original publishing

Our publishing program develops stories children want to read, written to support literacy, character, emotional growth, curiosity and learning. Each title stands alone as a good story. Each title can also become the center of a larger literacy, emotional-learning, environmental or STEM program.

Subjects and themes

  • Literacy and a lifelong love of reading
  • Emotional awareness and healthy communication
  • Kindness, empathy and respect
  • Environmental responsibility
  • Confidence and resilience
  • Family, friendship and community
  • Cars, engineering, mechanics and STEM
  • Inclusion and belonging

Books for Every Child

Access and distribution

Our access program puts meaningful books in the hands of children who can benefit from them, whether or not their family, classroom or organization can buy the books directly. The routes in are many: sponsor-funded classroom donations, corporate employee giving, hospital and family-resource partnerships, community book drives, race-weekend literacy activations, and direct grants for printing and shipping. They all feed the same shelf.

Distribution partners

  • Title I schools
  • Children's hospitals
  • Public and school libraries
  • Foster-care organizations
  • Family-resource centers
  • Community organizations
  • Military families
  • Disaster-relief organizations

Shine with Stories Events

Readings and events

Events turn a book into a shared hour. Readings, workshops, volunteer activities and hands-on programs make literacy visible and exciting for children and families. Every event has a named community partner, a book, an activity that fits the age group, trained volunteers and a plan for the donated books.

Event formats

  • School reading visits
  • Library readings and story time
  • Children's hospital visits
  • Race-weekend book drives
  • STEM events built around cars and engineering
  • “Books and Builds” workshops
  • Beach cleanups
  • Emotional-awareness activities
  • Corporate volunteer reading programs
  • Community literacy festivals

Books and supporting materials are reviewed for age appropriateness, reading level, educational value and emotional clarity. When a topic touches mental health, child development or safety, the foundation may seek review from a qualified professional before publication.

Books that become programs

Each title opens a door.

Our first two books each anchor a program: a reading, an activity, a community partner and a sponsor-funded donation, built around a story children already love.
Cover of The Sand Monkey's Secret: a girl watching the sunset from a beach dune beside a lantern-lit camper

Program opportunity

Care for Our Coast

The book, a community reading, an age-appropriate environmental activity and a sponsor-funded book donation. Kindness and care for the coast, in one afternoon.

The Sand Monkey's Secret

Cover of Bear and Bee: Big Emotions, a watercolor bear waving beside a smiling bee in a flower meadow

Program opportunity

Understanding Big Emotions

A literacy and emotional-awareness program for schools, libraries, hospitals, counselors and family-resource organizations, paired with discussion prompts, emotion-identification activities and classroom materials.

Bear and Bee

More titles are on the way. Future books may cover friendship, confidence, family, STEM, cars and engineering, inclusion, health, safety, community service and the environment. A growing library, not a single subject.

Cover of The Story of Force: a rescue cat in racing gear cheering from a drifting Nissan ZThe book that started it

Read about The Story of Force

How it started

One rescue cat, one book, one very good afternoon.

Nobody set out to found anything. Chris wrote a story for the children who came to see him race, and the response made the next step obvious.

  1. Chris wrote a book

    The Story of Force is about a little rescue cat with an enormous dream. Chris wrote it for the kids who line up at his pit wall.

  2. It went out at the track

    Copies still go out at the track, and those sales support the foundation. Small hands, big eyes, one story about wanting something badly.

  3. The children kept reading

    One book for one child turned into a plan to reach many more, and the foundation started.

“Never give up. Never stop dreaming.”from the last page of The Story of Force

The Forsberg platform

Chris Forsberg is a three-time Formula Drift champion, and Forsberg Racing gives the foundation a platform that reaches families, automotive partners, schools and children who light up around race cars and engineering. That connection opens access to events, sponsor relationships, media coverage, display vehicles and hands-on STEM programming. Shine with Stories keeps its own governance, finances, programs and accountability.

Meet the family behind the books

National reach

One national foundation, two coasts.

One mission, one set of books, one set of publishing standards, one governance and finance structure, with regional leaders free to build real local partnerships.

West Coast

Foundation administration, publishing, creative leadership, event partnerships and regional programs.

East Coast

Regional representation, community outreach, volunteer coordination, reading events and partner development.

Led by Laura Forsberg, Director of Story Development and East Coast Regional Director, with the national leadership team.

Ways to partner

Six ways in. All of them a conversation.

Shine with Stories is funded through corporate support, grants, individual donations, fundraising events, mission-related book sales, recurring giving and in-kind contributions. Giving levels are set from real printing, shipping, staffing and event costs, so a partner can see what their support pays for: one child, one classroom, a grade level, a hospital program or a regional campaign.

How to reach us

Three doors, one inbox.

Tell us which one you are and what you need. Every route lands with the same team.

Contact the foundation

  • Schools, libraries and hospitals

    Request books, a reading visit or classroom resources.

  • Partners, sponsors and event hosts

    Fund a book, sponsor a classroom or host an event.

  • Readers, parents and volunteers

    Ask about a book, join an event or offer your time.

Online giving is not live yet. Until it is, the donate page points to contact, and purchase links for the books are still on the way. Partner recognition emphasizes support for the charitable mission, and the foundation keeps its independence, its finances and its educational focus.

Get involved

Every child deserves to shine.

Schools, libraries, hospitals, community organizations, sponsors, volunteers, race weekends. If there are children and there could be books, we want to hear about it.

Get in touchBrowse the books