Books

Item Description

Fund-a-Need:

Join us in putting books into the hands and hearts of children in need.  Every $25 donation provides a backpack filled with 8-10 age-appropriate books, coloring books, and school supplies for one child living in poverty in our communities.

Children from low-income families lose valuable reading skills during the summer due to the lack of access to books.  Providing children with books allows them to gain, rather than lose, reading skills.  Children who lose reading ability over the summer rarely catch up. 

Children growing up in homes with at least 20 books tend to get three years more schooling than children from homes without books.  The most successful way to improve the reading achievement of low-income children is to increase access to books.  Low-income homes have one book for every three hundred children versus and thirteen books per child in middle-income homes.  Studies have shown that access to books in the home allows children to read more and for longer times, improves overall reading performance, and shows a more positive attitude towards reading and learning.  Creating a steady stream of new, age-appropriate books has been shown to nearly triple interest in reading within months.

Children from low-income households lose reading skills during summer break because they lack access to books in their homes and will suffer from lower school achievement than their middle-class peers. One of the largest contributors to this disparity is the lack of continued learning during the summer. Studies have shown that providing children with books for summer reading allows them to gain, rather than lose, reading skills over the summer. Students who lose reading ability over the summer rarely catch up.  Over time, the summer learning slide can add up to the equivalent of three years of reading loss by the end of fifth grade.

A lack of academic achievement is a key reason students drop out of high school, as well as a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.  More than 8,000 children quit high school every day.

Up With Books strives to empower low-income children to close the reading achievement gap, which provides them with the opportunity to overcome the cycle of poverty.

Thank you for your generous support!