Children in low income families in King and Snohomish counties will soon have the opportunity to read and own their first new books.
A shipment of 50,000 free reading books for children will arrive from Walt Disney Publishers by mid April, according to Greg Gourley, chairman of the First Book Sno-King Advisory Board.
Giving children access to books at home increases reading skills and encourages one-on-one reading time between parents and children.
“We hope by providing children with access to books, both at school and at home, that we will encourage reading as a rewarding, lifelong pastime,” said Gourley, a Lynnwood resident.
Children in 61 percent of low-income families have no books at all in their homes to read.
“Our job is to put books in the hands of the hardest to reach children in our communities,” Gourley said. “Take the books home, read, share and keep ‘em. That’s our message to kids.”
The books are available to community literacy programs, Head Start centers, housing projects and church and community after school tutoring programs.
First Book is aimed at schools and organizations receiving at-risk funding. As part of the program, low-income and at-risk families receive one new children’s book monthly to help children build their own reading library.”
“It’s important we offer kids books to read and keep,” he said. “The number of books in a home has been found to correlate directly with reading scores. A study of 100,000 United States school children found that access to printed materials – and not poverty – is the critical variable affecting reading acquisition.”
The rate of children growing up with low literacy skills is a national problem. It affects America’s security and competitiveness. It leads to millions of children dropping out of school each year costing the United States over $240 billion in lost savings, forgone tax revenues, and expenditures for social services, he said.
More than 35.6 million Americans – over 40 percent of them children – are currently living below the poverty line, Gourley said. Children from low income families are less likely to attend pre-kindergarten programs, more likely to have trouble with their schoolwork and more likely to repeat grades in school.
“These figures apply to Snohomish County (and King County), also,” he said.
Adding, “First Book Sno-King is going to make a difference for many children, by helping them develop a lifetime reading habit. We’re going to help kids succeed by giving them books to read.”
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