As a nation…

• Two-thirds of 4th graders are below reading proficiency and 83% of low-income 4th graders are below proficient (National Assessment of Educational Progress)
• Some 42 percent of American children (31MM) lack the income to cover basic needs including child care and access to books (National Assessment of Educational Progress)
• In some of the lowest-income neighborhoods in the country there is only one book available for every 300 children (University of Nevada Study)
• 44 million adults in the U.S. can’t read well enough to read a simple story to a child (National Adult Literacy Survey)

If you’re anything like me, you’ve got shelves and shelves full of books your kids have outgrown.

If you’re anything like me, the thought of one book for every 300 children makes you want to cry inside.

Books were my childhood companion. They were an escape, an inspiration, a guide and a comfort. It’s no great stretch for me to say that I was shaped by reading, and it kills me that there are children deprived of that experience and opportunity for self-education.

Read. Share. Give is a national book sharing program that launched in Atlanta on June 30th with a stated goal of “one million story times” this summer.

This summer KinderCare invites you to read and share a book so that you can give a book to those in need.

• Pick a children’s book to read with your family
• Visit kindercare.com/read to download and print out a book label. Enter the book’s code found on that label, and start following your book’s journey.
• Place the label into the inside front cover of the book and pass it on to family and friends. Ask them to pay it forward.
• The more people who participate, the more books KinderCare will donate to Reach Out and Read.

I’m thinking that we might donate a lot of our favorite books to our YMCA childcare and preschool center library. Hoping that we’ll be able to track our books moving from family to family. We have somewhat eclectic taste in children’s books and knowing that they are getting used again and being read, that we are helping those authors be exposed to new families, is nearly as satisfying as knowing that more books will be made available to kids who need them.

Click here for more info and to get started. 🙂

** KinderCare sent me a paperback copy of Dan Freeman’s Corduroy to get our book journey started. I’ll pay that forward by sending it to the first person to send me their name & mailing address at simplegreenorganichappy {at} gmail {dot} com. I just ask that you pay it forward as well: log the book’s tracking number when you receive it, and pass it on to someone else who might enjoy it. **