A recent study has shown that access to reading materials is extremely limited for children from low-income families: estimated to be about one book for every 300 children.
Source: Neuman, Susan B. Handbook of Early Literacy Research, Volume 2. New York, NY: The Guilford Press, 2006. P 31.

I read this statistic for the first time today and gasped. I knew I believed in the mission of First Book – to give children from low-income families the opportunity read and own their first new books – but I didn’t realize how much of a difference every book we are able to distribute makes. We’re at 43 million and counting…