Until the 3rd grade, a child LEARNS to READ. After the 3rd grade, a child has to know how to READ to LEARN.
Think about that for a moment. That means a child has about eight years to learn how to read - and do so well enough that they're set up for success later in life.
A literacy expert in Wisconsin once told me the state of California actually determines how much space they'll need in their prisons by looking at 3rd grade reading scores. If, by the time a child enters the 3rd grade, they don't know how to read well...they will often avoid learning, act out, drift away from focusing on education...all because they don't understand the words being used to teach them. As you might be able to imagine, that can lead to a downward spiral in their lives, because they find themselves unable to figure out how to move forward. They may drop out of school, or get kicked out. They could, and it's happened, end up in prison someday because they couldn't understand the words being used to teach them way back in the 3rd grade.
With that said, it's been proven that just having books around... Just having them sitting on bookshelves, or gathered in baskets, or piled on the floorboard of your car... Just having them near your child, will influence your child to read. Of course, reading to your children will help tremendously.
There are children, though, whose parents have other very important things to spend their money on. They have food to buy, and clothes. Some parents, sadly, may not understand the importance of having books around. And some parents may have been those very children who never learned how to read the words in their 3rd grade textbooks.
You can make a difference.
There is a book drive going on right now called Hooked on Books. It was started by the Kansas City Star more than a decade ago (here's a full report from the paper). It got so big, with hundreds of thousands of books being donated, they asked the Junior League for help. The Junior League has stepped in and offered up the volunteer-power to collect, sort and distribute these books.
How many? Good question.
To date...SEVEN - HUNDRED - THOUSAND BOOKS!!!!!
They've all been handed out to children who need to learn to read in the critical first years of their lives. Children who need to have books around.
You can make a difference.
Look for the red bins placed all over the city right now...at area post offices, at Rainy Day Books on Shawnee Mission Parkway. Here's a full list of the locations.
Happen to have a few extra books lying around? Yeah, me too. Together...we'll make a difference.