Did you know that every time you pick up a book for fun you help teach children to read?  This year, make your own personal reading part of your kids’ summer reading program.

Do you have a pile of books waiting because you’re too busy to read?  Do you put off reading “fun” books because you feel you should read “important” ones?  You are not only depriving yourself of pleasure, says children’s literature commentator Sharon Levin, you’re setting a bad example for the kids who look up to you.  “As long as the message is that reading is not fun, not an activity we CHOOSE to do and make the time for, then no amount of lip service will convince a child otherwise,” says Levin in her recent online article “Raising a Reader” in the Bay Area Parent, Silicon Valley edition enewsletter.  “[T]here is a huge impact for a child in seeing her teacher prioritizing and enjoying reading time.”  And, says Levin, what makes reading enjoyable is – reading books that one enjoys!  Never mind whether the books are “good,” or “edifying,” or “challenging.”  If you don’t like it, you won’t read it; and the same rule goes for kids.

So pick up that summer reading!  And maybe you should even read some fun kids’ books while you’re at it.  You’re never too old to enjoy a truly great children’s book – and it will give you something to talk about with the kids.  Oh, and by the way: the East Bay Children’s Book Project can always use donations of great children’s books, especially new picture books and board books.  Here’s how you can donate to us.

Happy summer reading!

The East Bay Children’s Book Project helps put books into the homes of children who don’t have them.  Now a study says that children who grow up in homes with books are more likely to stay in school for longer – and that this may be true whether their parents are highly literate or not.  And here’s the best part – you can help do something about it!  (Read all the way to the end …)

According to the May 21, 2010 online issue of Science Daily, a 20-year-long study showed that having 500 books in the home can be as important as having university-educated parents in determining how much education a child will receive.  But you don’t need a big personal library to have an effect on your child’s education or literacy: according to the study, children with even 20 books in the home got higher levels of education than those without any books.  And the effect was greater when the parents had less education.

Are there really families with no books at all in their homes?  Sadly, yes.  Literacy, and the lack of it, is a huge issue.  An estimated one in four English-speaking adults in the United States can’t read well enough to complete a job application.  And when money is tight, buying books is low on the list.

That’s where the East Bay Children’s Book Project comes in.  Our clients get books into the hands of children who need them.  For example, the Families for Literacy Program of the Oakland (California) Public Library’s Second Start Adult Literacy Program gives over 1,000 books a year to the children of adult literacy learners.  These children will grow up with books in their homes.

YOU CAN HELP! Organize a book drive for the East Bay Children’s Book Project at your office, school, place of worship, or among friends.  Ask a local business to host one of our book collection bags; contact us to find out more.  Spread the word: tell your friends who work for organizations benefiting children about us.  Or make a donation to help us buy new books and cover our expenses!  Support the East Bay Children’s Book Project.  We make education happen!

The Oakland A’s book drive is postponed. But, the A’s have donated free tickets for everyone who volunteered. So if you signed up, please come by the book project and pick up your ticket(s).

To contact us, email eastbaycbp@gmail.com.

Children’s Book Week is May 10-16, 2010.  Children’s Book Week began in 1919 with the amazing idea that children’s lives could be changed by books.  Today, the East Bay Children’s Book Project is changing children’s lives by giving out hundreds of thousands of books.  Read this post to find out how you can be part of what we do by sharing a book that you loved!

When I was a kid, my life was changed by The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.  A story about an only child who came home from school and was bored and had an overactive imagination – just like me! Even before the strange wild adventures started, I was hooked.  By the time Milo emerged a hero, my life was transformed.

What children’s book changed your life, and why?  What book does your child want you to read over and over and over again?

We’d love to have you write us a comment.  But here’s an even better way to celebrate Children’s Book Week (no matter when you are reading this!) – donate a copy of that beloved book to the Children’s Book Project, so another child’s life can be changed by it.