It’s no surprise that the entire Early Learning Nation magazine team is filled with readers (and authors, too): voracious, life-long readers, catholic in our interests and at the ready for a new book, a new favorite author and new ways to share what we love with others. And that includes sharing our love of books with children.
This is why we partnered with our friends at the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading for a July 16 conversation—“Children’s Books: From Access to Opportunity”— to celebrate the power and joy of diverse home libraries, literacy-rich environments, the brain-building benefits of language development, and the importance of reading to babies and toddlers.
It was a powerhouse panel:
- Tabitha Blackwell, Executive Director, Book Harvest
- Norrine Briggs, Executive Director, North America, The Dollywood Foundation
- Alvin Irby, Founder and Executive Director, Barbershop Books
- Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., Professor of Maternal Child Health and Public Policy; Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-CH
- Kyle Zimmer, First Book’s President, CEO and Co-Founder
Journalist and Early Learning Nation magazine contributor Leigh Giangreco moderated the panel.
Here are our takeaways:
• Early childhood is the right time to celebrate diversity. Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., provided the social and scientific contexts for the conversation. For example, the early years are a period of accelerated brain and language development, she noted, the ideal time to promote respect for diversity and the joy that goes with it.
Dr. Iruka—professor of Maternal Child Health and Public Policy and founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition (as well as a mother of two)—cited the 2023 National Academies report, Opportunity Gap for Young Children, which notes the benefit of “culturally relevant, identity-affirming and positive books for families to take home.”
She cautioned that books aren’t a silver bullet for all the challenges facing young children and their families, but they are a proven tool for fostering a love of reading.
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• Durham, N.C., is “The City of Books.” Tabitha Blackwell, executive director of Book Harvest, described her organization’s work, which includes providing free books and resources in early learning and health care settings in Durham.
Altogether, Book Harvest provides 170 books over the first decade of a child’s life. Why all those books? “Because,” Blackwell says, “families feel isolated and crave more connectivity and guidance.”
Its program Book Babies partners with families of Medicaid-eligible children. A randomized control trial conducted by Dr. Iruka found that 98% of families agreed that Book Babies helped to create a daily routine of reading. And its Bridge to School supports the transition into kindergarten, especially for bilingual families. “Family members are the ones doing the work,” Blackwell said. “We’re walking alongside them.”
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• Early learning starts at home—with a book. Norrine Briggs, executive director, North America of The Dollywood Foundation, said that Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has gifted 250 million books since 1995, and she played a video with the famed singer, author, actor and “Dreamer in Chief,” in which she declares, “If you can read, you can teach yourself anything.”
Briggs described the many ways her organization brings about collaboration among states, counties, school districts, public libraries and nonprofits—all in the name of creating moments where young children read with someone they know loves them.
Receiving a book in the mail every month, she said, “lays the foundation for consistent parent involvement.” Some children can’t even wait to get inside the door before they tear open the package addressed to them.
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• Reading should be fun. Alvin Irby, founder and executive director of Barbershop Books, promoted the idea of child-centered curation—that is, Black boys are the best judges of what Black boys do and do not want to read. My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish and Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series probably won’t win the Nobel Prize for Literature, but these are the titles that help children become what Irby called captains of their own reading journeys. “Boys like things that are gross,” Giangreco chimed in. “You have to lean into that.”
Leveraging the cultural power of barbershops in Black communities, Barbershop Books currently operates in 20 cities. Early literacy expert Susan B. Neuman recently conducted a two-year evaluation in Philadelphia and found that Black boys exposed to books through the program were more likely to identify as readers.
Irby, a former teacher as well as a charismatic stand-up comedian, called attention to the importance of centering the diverse ways we read. “My son likes to read on the toilet,” he confessed, “so I’m going to put a basket of books there.”
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• Diverse books lead to diverse readers. Matching Dolly Parton is no easy feat, but First Book, the nation’s largest community of adults in the lives of kids, has also distributed 250 million books. And like Barbershop Books, First Book also gets researcher Susan B. Neuman’s seal of approval. Its Literacy Rich Classroom Library Checklist represents what the researcher calls a “research-driven roadmap for educators to foster an environment that… will drive equitable education outcomes and be foundational for future success.”
Kyle Zimmer, First Book’s president, CEO and co-founder, explained that while giving books away is an admirable strategy, her organization practices a different one: “Traditional pricing models mean the best books are out of reach,” she said. And the publishing industry has a poor record on diversity.
“Industries respond to markets,” she continued, “so the Diverse Books for All Coalition went to publishers with a business plan for an aggregated market, a vibrant market.” Zimmer announced plans for quadrupling the number of kids First Book reaches, from 6.5 million to 26 million!
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Early Learning Nation columnist Mark Swartz writes for and about nonprofit organizations. Author of the children's books Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, Lost Flamingo, Magpie Bridge and The Giant of the Flood as well as a few novels, he lives in Takoma Park, MD, with his wife and two children.
