Guest blogger Jen Robinson is a children’s literacy advocate who blogs at Jen Robinson’s Book Page (http://jkrbooks.typepad.com). Her goal is to help parents, teachers, and librarians to encourage children to grow up loving books. To that end, she publishes book reviews and literacy news, as well as a weekly email newsletter dedicated to Growing Bookworms (http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=277311)

First Book’s mission is to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. This mission is absolutely critical to our society’s future. Children who enjoy reading will, naturally enough, spend time reading. Because spending time doing anything is the path towards becoming more proficient at it, those children who enjoy reading will become accomplished readers. They will do better in school, score higher on the SATs, and have an easier time tackling higher education than others. The children who enjoy reading when they are young will thus grow up to have greater opportunities in life. As readers, they’ll also be more able to entertain and comfort themselves, and through books they’ll have the chance to learn great things and visit fabulous worlds. (Further details on the importance of raising readers can be found on this post, in which I recap a session by well-known literacy advocate Jim Trelease: http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/2007/01/jim_trelease_ta_1.html, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook.)

Unfortunately, there are many obstacles that keep kids from becoming readers. The proliferation of movies, television shows, and computer games today take time away from reading. The increase in the volume of activities and sporting events in schools today also cuts down on reading time, as does the emphasis on testing in schools. Many parents are too busy working multiple jobs to read on their own, or to read with their children. And, saddest of all, some children don’t have access to books in their own homes. That’s where First Book comes in, of course, making sure that children from low-income families have access to their own books.

Having one’s own books has real power. There’s pride of ownership. There’s the validation that comes from someone caring enough to provide the books. There’s the chance to read and re-read, without having to return a book to the library. There’s the opportunity to become proficient at reading, through reading books with parents, and re-reading them alone. Every book that lands in a child’s hands opens up new possibilities.

Of course, having the books is only part of the solution. Parents who want to raise children who appreciate books should read aloud to the those children, beginning from birth (or earlier), and continuing for as long as they possibly can. Reading aloud to your children even after the children know how to read offers tremendous benefits, such as exposure to books that the children can’t yet read on their own, closeness, demonstration of the value of reading, and the opportunity to open up discussion topics. Other tips for raising readers include helping your children to find the books that interest them (rather than forcing them to read books that aren’t to their tastes, or forcing them to advance through reading levels too quickly), modeling reading behavior by reading yourself (and yes, newspapers and magazines count, too), providing cozy spaces in your home for reading, and limiting screen time to allow more time for books. It all comes down to showing the reading is important, by giving it time, while also making it a pleasurable activity rather than a high-pressure chore.

Helping a child to become a reader is one of the greatest gifts that an adult can give, a gift that continues to pay dividends throughout the child’s life. First Book helps this cause by getting books into children’s hands. I try to help by recommending books to parents and teachers, and highlighting literacy news. And parents and teacher who read aloud to children give this gift of literacy every day. Together, I truly believe that we can make a difference.

A few online resources related to kids and reading:

Jim Trelease’s website: http://www.trelease-on-reading.com
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature website (Jon Scieszka): http://childrensbookambassador.com/
Guy’s Read, an organization focused on getting young boys reading: http://www.guysread.com/
Readergirlz, an organization focused on empowering teenage girls through books: http://www.readergirlz.com
PBS KIDS Island, a reading resource focused on preschoolers and their parents: www.readytolearnreading.org
The Cybils, a series of book awards given based on both literary quality and kid appeal: http://www.cybils.com