Here’s a pre-Halloween scare: Children’s books – picture books, specifically – are losing their place in bookstores and in little children’s lives.  The reason’s scary, too: some parents seem to think picture books won’t make their little ones sufficiently high-achieving.

In a New York Times online article of October 7, 2010, “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children,” bookstore owners across the country tell of parents discouraging their 4, 5 and 6-year-olds from reading picture books, and of books sitting on the shelves, unsold.  Even though children still gravitate toward the picture books, the parents are pushing the tykes to read chapter books instead, to get a jump on the competitive academic world.

It’s well documented that young children in the U.S. who are exposed to books start school better prepared, and if their families own books, they go farther in school. But as the Times article points out, little children get benefits from picture books that they can’t get from text-heavy novels.  Picture books stimulate the imagination in a different way and may even have a more complicated vocabulary or concepts.  They allow an entirely different, more interactive, communication between parent and child (especially if the parent has literacy challenges, as an estimated 20 to 25% of Oakland’s English-speaking population does).  And while The Phantom Tollbooth (which the Times says one parent recommended online to another for a 5-year-old) is a fabulous book, how is a young child going to play with it the way he’d play with Good Night, Gorilla?

At the East Bay Children’s Book Project, we give free picture books to teachers whose budgets don’t let them buy libraries for their classrooms or their schools.  We donate picture books to stock the shelves of social service organizations, clinics, recreation centers, and other nonprofit youth organizations serving families that may not own any children’s books.  And we’re going to continue doing just that.  We don’t believe that young children need to compete with some imaginary genius out there to succeed – we believe that “Every Child Needs a Book.”

You can help: Donate books for children, make a financial donation, or contact us.  And share picture books with the young children in your life!

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!

Want to help the East Bay Children’s Book Project but live too far away or don’t have time during the week? You can organize a book drive.

First, choose a time and place.  You could collect books at a school, a religious or social organization, your office, a local store or coffee shop.

Next, design flyers and signs (this is a great project for kids).  Be sure to include what the books are for, what kind of books you want (new or new and gently used children’s books), where people should bring books and how long the drive will last.  If you’re stumped on this, ask us for help; we can also provide brochures.

Post signs and distribute flyers. Provide boxes or collection bins and place them in nice, prominent locations.

Collect the books (on a regular basis so the bins don’t overflow). Count them and sort them by the following categories: board books (books with cardboard pages), picture books, chapter books. If you have a lot of books, you can also sort out non-fiction books. Please recycle anything that is ripped or dirty.  Books that are not for kids or teens should be donated to your local library or charity thrift store.

Deliver the books to 2008 Park Blvd. Please box the books standing up and let us know the total number of books and the number of hours you donated.

Call us at 510-433-0412 or email us at eastbaycbp@gmail.com if you have any questions.