HOW IT CAN WORK ON THE GROUND In a study providing 12 books in Spanish and English to young readers and their families, Neuman and Moland (2019) prioritized fostering community among Spanish- speaking parents. To do so, they established a book club for parents, providing “an important social opportunity for parents to gather together, to share information about books, and other things as well” (Neuman & Moland, 2019). This book club provided time for parents to talk about their children, academics, and school activities. Importantly, it also provided a safe, nonjudgmental space for parents who struggled with reading.
In a group, parents with low reading proficiency:
• Chimed in more while reading with their children;
• Developed more confidence in their own reading using the repeated texts as scaffolds;
• Reported high levels of enjoyment in fostering their children’s skills, as well as their own; and
• Continued to attend book clubs after the study concluded.
What’s more, children across the project saw substantial increases in receptive language and concepts of print measures in a 12-week period, regardless of the parents’ own reading abilities (Neuman & Moland, 2019).
The personal connection that young people discover when owning and sharing books with those around them is reflected in the research on young readers and motivation to read far beyond preschool age. Data show that young people are motivated to be active and engaged readers when they receive books as gifts, “suggesting that schools should explore avenues for promoting book ownership, particularly for those children who may not receive books as gifts” (Koskinen et al., 1994). This is true across socioeconomic lines. Book-sharing interventions, in which caregivers engage in interactive reading with children, are relatively cheap, feasible to implement and improve the social-emotional and cognitive skills (Manu et al., 2019, p. 2).
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