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Free books sent to tickle kids' imagination

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published October 13, 2006

Ask a teacher and you'll hear the ugly truth: Too many 5-year-olds enter kindergarten without ever having held, much less owned, a book.

That's right. Not held a book. As in, never cracked open the cover of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, run a tiny finger along the printed words and recited a broken yet close to perfect version to where the beautiful butterfly emerges and, undaunted by the book's end, flipped it back to page one to start again.

Never.

"In high-poverty schools it's a reality," says Barbara Rooks, supervisor of elementary media centers for Hillsborough County schools. "It happens way too much."

Maybe it's obvious to say, but this does not bode well for these youngsters.

They enter elementary school at a distinct disadvantage from the kids who have home libraries and two or more years of preschool under their belts. Kindergarten is practically first grade already, with ever-growing demands on students to know more sooner than ever before. Without that early foundation in reading, these children are increasingly at risk of remaining perpetually behind.

Imagine them as adults, unable to understand signs on the road, read a letter from a friend, follow the instructions to run the equipment where they work if they work.

Reading, as the still-fitting saying of 40 years ago goes, is fundamental.

A new program aims to break the chain.

Imagination Library, sponsored by Hillsborough County, the school system, United Way, the Children's Board and a host of other organizations, will mail free books monthly to any child born on or after Sept. 1 and living in one of six ZIP codes where FCAT scores are the county's lowest - 33563, 33604, 33610, 33612, 33614 and 33619.

The first is The Little Engine That Could and the last, which comes the month of the child's fifth birthday, is Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come.

All you have to do is sign up. Area hospitals have the forms, as do the many sponsoring organizations. It's totally free, no strings attached.

It sounds so unreal that some families have rejected the offer, says Barbara Smiley-Ramirez, program manager for Healthy Families Hillsborough.

It is, in fact, a government program that doesn't sell your personal information or suddenly start charging you if you forget to cancel after the first 30 days. And if it succeeds, the county is poised to expand it into every ZIP code.

"We are doing something hopeful," says Commissioner Ronda Storms, who brought the program to the county's attention. "We know if a child has the opportunity and access to books, they will be a reader. We know all children don't have that."

Of course, just giving a book to a child doesn't mean anything magical is going to happen. Parents need to make the connection, too.

To that end, the public library system plans to revamp its children's library programs, especially story hours, to teach families more about literacy. It also plans to expand its outreach efforts into the communities it serves, director Joe Stines says.

Plans for Imagination Library, which is designed and supported by country singer Dolly Parton's foundation, have been in the works for a year. Already, the program has generated an anonymous donation of $75,000, and the United Way is seeking additional backing.

Hillsborough is the fourth county in Florida to adopt the program, which also operates in 38 other states serving more than 300,000 children.

Have ideas for future columns? Contact Jeffrey S. Solochek at solochek@sptimes.com or (813) 269-5304.

[Last modified October 12, 2006, 08:15:51]