Access to Books is Essential to Reading Development

• Studies show that having access to a wide variety of reading materials is essential if a child is to develop into a strong reader. In fact, the only behavioral measure that correlates significantly with reading scores is the number of books in the home.

• Children who are read to frequently are nearly twice as likely as other children to show three or more skills associated with emerging literacy. (4)

• The more types of reading materials there are in the home, the higher students are in reading proficiency. (6)

• Students who do more reading at home are better readers and have higher math scores. (5)

Children in Poverty are the Most at Risk

35.6 million Americans -- 40% of them children -- are currently living below the poverty line. (7)

• Children from low-income families enter school at a disadvantage. The gap between children from low and high-income families on reading comprehension scores is more than 40 points. (10)

• On average low-income children have far fewer literacy and language experiences at home than their classmates. Low-income children are 50% more likely than children from high-income families to be seven years old or older and still in the first grade. (9)

• 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. (8)
   

• A team of researchers recently concluded that nearly two thirds of the low-income families they studied owned no books for their children. (3)

References