Studies show that children who have more books in their homes achieve higher levels of education and develop stronger literacy skills. But access to age–appropriate, high-quality books in the home is a challenge for many families in under-resourced communities— a reality that Jamie Lipp, Mary Fried Endowed clinical assistant professor and lead of Literacy Collaborative in the Department of Teaching and Learning, is focused on changing.
“A lot of times, literacy boils down to access, and there are many children that don’t have access to books they can read in their homes,” said Lipp.
“They may have access to books in their home at their listening level and they may have been read to – which are both wonderful – but they also need books with texts that they can read and read confidently.”
As a literacy education leader and spouse of a Columbus Division of Police Commander, Lipp was aware of a program that could get books into the hands of children who need them most.
A recent gift from the Foster Initiative Fund enabled the college to establish a book distribution partnership with the Columbus Division of Police Community Liaison Unit through the Starfish Assignment Books and Badges initiative to answer this call.
Officers from the Columbus Police Department’s Community Liaison Precinct Brian Myers and Lisa Barbeau first delivered free Keep Books® during a Books and Badges event at Liberty Elementary School.
“For a law enforcement officer, creating positive interactions with elementary school students is so important and refreshing,” Myers said.
“Being able to link those interactions with a chance to encourage the students to work on their reading skills and offer free books to keep is doubly rewarding.”
The day was filled with connection, fun and inspiration. Officer Barbeau reminded the exuberant kindergartners to stay focused on reading.
“It is important to keep reading all the time. Even when school is out, book reading is still in,” Barbeau said.
These words struck a chord with the little ones. As the event ended, they chanted in unison, “Even when school is out, book reading is still in.”
The initiative strives to bridge the gap between the community and the police. Officers visit schools and read to elementary school-age children, at their listening level, and each child receives a copy of the book to keep.
“With our matched commitment to build a stronger foundation through books,” Lipp said, “and the fact that the (Columbus Police) were already engaged with Columbus City Schools, this was the perfect opportunity for us to partner and add a take-home bag of books to the Books and Badges experience.”
With inventory from the college’s Keep Books® program, Lipp was able to arm officers with 17,000 books to distribute during Books and Badges events with K-2 students across the district.
The gift allowed every child in 80 K-2 classrooms to receive a set of eight Keep Books® — benefitting 2,000 children with age-appropriate texts to read at home.
In addition, 20 district kindergarten classrooms received a set of the Rhymes and Songs Big Books titles for teachers to use in classrooms to support phonemic awareness, phrasing, fluency, oral language and early reading.
This project not only removed a barrier, but it also opened a door to further enrichment and creativity. Broadleigh Elementary School was a building in the district to receive 2,000 books to share in their four K-2 classrooms.
Recently, Broadleigh’s literacy coach, Lisa Chappell, met with teachers to distribute books and map out some additional fun projects.
“Keep Books® are like a treasure chest of ideas,” Chappell said.
“Not only are they a great resource for reading, they also help with practicing writing skills. These texts are a great match when looking for strategies to support writing practice – they are not too complex or intimidating – we paired them with a writing lesson activity and sent a copy of the book home for them to keep and continue reading with their families.”
“Thanks to EHE our students have a magical ticket in the literacy journey – access to books, books and more books!”
What are Keep Books®
Keep Books® were developed through a research project at the college with supportive grants from the Martha Jennings Foundation and the Charles A. Dana Foundation.
College researchers and classroom teachers on the project understood that K-2 students needed a way to build reading libraries at home that matched their reading ability at different stages of learning. The result was a comprehensive collection of books that do just that.
They are not specifically designed for formal reading instruction but are for ‘extra’ reading. They provide text features children need as they develop as readers. When students take them home, they have increased access to quality texts that help them see themselves as successful readers and build a bridge between school and home.
“When children are just beginning to read, they need access to easy-to-read books that are, very often, hard to find,” said Lipp.
“While children can borrow books from the library or school, it is a wonderful experience for them to collect and own books they can ‘keep’. The power of repeated readings is known, and these books offer that and more for children.”
“The beautiful part of this project is that, maybe, one day, a student will be playing in their room on a rainy day and find a couple of these books underneath their bed and sit down and start reading them all over again,” said Lipp.
“It is our shared hope that these little books make big differences in the lives of the children in our community.”
Future of the project
Keep Books® aims to continue this effort through ongoing donations and community support. To find out ways you can help increase classroom and at home book access for K-2 children, visit the Keep Books® Giving page.
