The Need

One Book For Every 300 Children?
Something Needs To Change.

The need is simple: kids need books. But most low-income children do not have them. Without books to read, literacy suffers – and when literacy suffers education suffers and opportunities decline – for generations. Reading programs don’t do much good if children don’t have books to read.

According to the Corporation for National & Community Service:

• 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving low-income populations have no age-appropriate books for their children. ¹
• In middle-income neighborhoods the ratio of age-appropriate books per child is 13 to 1, in low-income neighborhoods the ratio is 1 for every 300 children. ²
• The most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children is to increase their access to print. Communities ranking high in achievement tests have several factors in common: an abundance of books in public libraries, easy access to books in the community at large and a large number of textbooks per student. ³

Someone should do something. We are. And, with Book Drive For Kids, you can help, too.

2. Neuman, Susan B. and David K. Dickinson, ed. Handbook of Early Literacy Research, Volume 2. New York, NY: 2006, p. 31.

3. Newman, Sanford, et all. ‘Americans Child Care Crisis: A Crime Prevention Tragedy”; Fight Crime; Invest in Kids, 2000.

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