Bound for Good is an initiative from Conversation Tree Press that allows us to support our local community through a shared love of books. We commission one or more unique, custom-bound editions of our books and use them to raise funds for local charities that are making a meaningful impact right here in Waterloo Region, our home.

This campaign is now closed, having raised CA$12,915.

Strong Start - A Children’s Literacy Charity

This campaign supports Strong Start, a registered Canadian charity that helps children learn to read. Their programs involve working with children directly in addition to providing resources for families to support the development of strong literacy skills. They work through partnerships with schools, community centres, educators, and volunteers to create lifelong readers. Together, they are helping young children reach their potential and strengthening communities.

1 in 4 Canadian children struggles to read.

Strong Start exists to change that.

Early literacy shapes a child’s long-term development. Experiences at home and in early learning environments can influence confidence, academic success, and the joy of learning for years to come. Strong Start’s programmes reach children early—before they fall behind, become discouraged, or disengage from school.

To date, over 60,000 children have been supported by Strong Start’s early literacy programmes, all provided free of charge thanks to generous community support.

The funds raised from this Bound for Good Campaign are going directly towards Strong Start’s Letters, Sounds and Words™ programme. It is a free, 10-week early reading intervention for children in Year 2 Kindergarten to Grade 2 who need a literacy boost. Each child is paired with a trained community volunteer who works with them one-on-one in their school.

Through carefully designed games and activities, children learn:

• letter names
• letter sounds
• how to blend sounds into words
• how to decode and read independently

It’s joyful, targeted practice delivered by caring volunteers who bring patience, encouragement, and consistency - and it works. 
Your support helps children gain confidence, literacy skills and a brighter future — because reading changes everything.

The Unique Bindings

This Bound for Good Campaign offers three unique bindings of editions that have long been sold out. All of them bound by Ludlow Bookbinders in the finest materials:

J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan with artwork by Charles Vess

This unique copy uses the text block from the Deluxe Edition and is bound in full goatskin leather (see all the details about the edition here). It is a similar binding to the Deluxe Edition, but in a unique colour.

Charles Vess has generously donated his time and talent and added a full page original sketch, making this unique copy all the more special. Our sincere thanks to Charles. 

R.L. Stevenson’s Treasure Island

This unique copy utilizes the text block from the Standard (Collector’s) Edition, which at only 110 copies for sale, has been the lowest limitation we’ve offered at that tier (see all the details about the edition here).

It is quarter bound in goatskin leather as the Deluxe Edition was, but the boards are covered in the beautiful, letterpress-printed Rossi paper of the Standard (Collector’s Edition). The endpapers are the same hand marbled endpapers used in the Lettered Edition.

What makes this copy stand out even more is it is the only copy of Treasure Island in existence to feature a remarque by Marc Castelli. As a rule, Marc never remarques books, but he made an exception. Our thanks to Marc for his generosity as well.

Ken Liu’s The Paper Menagerie with a frontispiece by Scott McKowen

This unique copy is bound in full goatskin leather with hand-marbled endpapers and housed in a custom slipcase that has leather top and bottom caps (see all the details of the edition here).

How Your Support Is Recognised

For every $5 contributed to Strong Start, we will list your name once for the opportunity to be selected to receive one of the three uniquely bound books as our way of saying thank you. At the end of the campaign, we will select the three names from this appreciation list.

The fundraising campaign ends on Monday December 15th at 3pm. We will mail the three books to anywhere in the world CanadaPost, UPS, or DHL delivers. As the books are unique, we cannot offer replacements in case of loss or damage.

How to Donate

We’re aiming to raise CA$3,000 this time around. As always, we’ve kicked things off with a CA$100 donation of our own.

1. Visit https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/bound-for-good-strong-start/.
2. Click on Donate Now.
3. Enter an amount
4. (Optional) Add a message of support
5. (Optional) Display my name and donation amount on Conversation Tree Press's fundraising page.
6. After donating, forward your confirmation email to boundforgood@conversationtreepress.com.

Together, We’re Bound for Good

Thanks to the generosity of collectors, previous campaigns have raised thousands for organisations supporting children and families across Waterloo Region. With this campaign, we aim to continue that momentum—strengthening early literacy and empowering young learners with the confidence that comes from reading.

Thank you for supporting our community, our children, and a future filled with stories.