The Children's Book Project was founded to help build literacy by filling the very great need for children's books. Since our beginning in 1992, we have given over 800,000 free books to children and the facilities that serve them. We collect new and gently used books from book drives and collection bins at retail sites and remainders and damaged books from publishers. Our goal for 2005 is to distribute over 135,000, carefully selected, children's books.


 

"If we could get our parents to read to their preschool children even just
fifteen minutes a day, we could revolutionize the schools."
Helen Love, Former Superintendent of Chicago Schools

But how can you read to your child if you don't have any books?

A large number of Bay Area children do not have books or other literature written for children in their homes and live with parents who are not accustomed to using libraries. These children enter school severely less prepared to learn to read than many of their peers.

An ongoing goal of our project is to work with other organizations to encourage parents to read to their children. Through our Read Aloud Program we have given thousands of books to programs that are actively promoting reading aloud and need children's books to give to families who cannot afford to buy them. As part of our Read Aloud Program, in 1998 we initiated a coalition of San Francisco Bay Area organizations that are particularly concerned with encouraging parents to read to their very young children.

Our Read Aloud Coalition meets regularly to discuss parent training methods and to exchange information, including places where parents are able to go to learn to read. We also choose titles of books for the Children's Book Project to purchase. (The Children's Book Project does not receive enough donated books written for infants and toddlers, multicultural books or books written in Spanish or Chinese to meet the needs of the many hundreds of families served each month by our Read Aloud Coalition.) All of the participants work directly with families with very young children and most make regular home visits.

At the end of our Coalition meetings, the Children's Book Project provides both new and used books for the participants to select and give to families. During home visits, the caseworkers and nurses stress to parents the importance of sharing books with their children and give them suggestions on ways to do this. They then give the parents books to read. The pediatricians give books to parents during office visits. Books are also given to parents during parenting workshops.

Presently eleven organizations in addition to the Children's Book Project are participating in our Read Aloud Coalition. Nine of these organizations are located in San Francisco. They are the Mission Learning Center, the Asian Perinatal Advocates, the Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting Project (TAPP), the Central American Resource Center, the Golden Gate Regional Center, the Homeless Prenatal Program, the San Francisco School District's Pregnant Minors Program, St. Anthony's Free Medical Clinic and the "Yes We Can" Urban Asthma Partnership Program. The other two organizations are Oakland's Early Head Start Program and the Perinatal Council.

The feedback we have been receiving about our Read Aloud Program has been very gratifying. Parents are reading the books to their children. Many parents, a great deal of whom are teenagers, have said that reading aloud has also helped their own reading skills. Participants in our Read Aloud Coalition tell us that having books to give as gifts helps to build a trusting relationship between their clients and themselves. The books also provide an incentive for parents to come to workshops.




 

Every year through the generosity of an anonymous donor the Children's Book Project is able to provide funds for Bay Area children to take a trip to a local book store and select and purchase their own books. For many, this is their first time visiting a bookstore. Being able to select books of personal interest and take them home provides an incentive for reading for these children who often have no books of their own in their homes.


Both of these valuable programs could be expanded with additional funding. Your donation is very welcome.