Book Stamps and Senator Kennedy

I love reading. I love libraries. I love staying up late in my bed reading with my head lamp on. I am currently taking a literacy class and just read a chapter that made me want to jump out of my chair and write this blog. I've always been an avid reader. I loved the babysitter club series growing up and Amelia Bedelia before that.

I was amazed to read that the average middle income family has about 199 children books at home and the average middle income school holds about 392 in each individual classroom. Compare that to lower income families where there are just 2.6 children books in the average home and 54 children books in the average classroom. Contrast that with the lowest income home with just .4 books for kids at home and just 47 books in the classroom. This is absolutely ridiculous! I found this hard to swallow! I can't imagine not having books in the home. Heck, Jim and I's favorite date nights are going to half price books or Barnes and Knoble.

I then remembered legislation that Senator Kennedy was working on. He had introduced federal legislation that would have provided children from low-income families with books stamps to exchange for books at book fairs and bookstores. This effort, which was modeled after the federal Food Stamp program, unfortunately was not funded. Can you imagine allowing children from low SES backgrounds to be able to "purchase" books. What an incredibly awesome idea! I'm going to see where this legislation is at and see if I can't support it in some way.

Kids not only need to read a lot, but they also need lots of books they can read accurately, fluently, and with comprehension right at their fingertips! They also need access to books that entice them, attract them to reading be it Junie B. Jones to Captain Underpants to Harry Potter to the Twilight series!