One Kid’s Book for Every 830 Children in DC Neighborhood of Anacostia

 For children, the high-poverty D.C. neighborhood of Anacostia is a book desert. According to a new study from NYU researchers on the availability of children’s books in low-income neighborhoods in several U.S. cities, only one age-appropriate book is available for every 830 children there. Anacostia isn’t alone.
 

(John Spaulding/AP Images for JetBlue’s Soar with Reading Program)

 In neighborhoods lacking book stores — which many low-income neighborhoods, increasingly segregated, do — access is limited. A 2001 study found that in middle-income neighborhoods, 13 books were available to purchase for every child, while in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty, only one book was available for every 300 children.

The recent NYU study, published in the journal Urban Education, compares the availability of children’s books in one high-poverty neighborhood and one “borderline” neighborhood in six U.S. cities. In D.C., Detroit and Los Angeles, they surveyed one neighborhood with a poverty rate of 40 percent or above and another with a poverty rate between 18 and 40 percent. Researchers went street to street in each neighborhood, counting the number and types of print resources available for purchase, from books to magazines to newspapers. In total, they counted 82,389 resources in 75 stores. In three of the six neighborhoods, they found no bookstores at all. Dollar stores were the most common place to buy children’s books.


In each city, researchers found that the borderline communities had on average 16 times more books per child than the high-poverty neighborhoods in the same city. D.C. had the largest divide: In Anacostia, 830 children would need to share a book, while only two would share in Capitol Hill. In Detroit, 42 children in Hamtramck would need to share a book; eleven would in the borderline University District.

“Children’s books are hard to come by in high-poverty neighborhoods. These ‘book deserts’ may seriously constrain young children’s opportunities to come to school ready to learn,” said Susan B. Neuman, professor of childhood and literacy education at NYU Steinhardt and the study’s lead author. “Without resources, school readiness skills accumulated throughout the year are likely to drop precipitously during the summer. This ‘summer slide’ is a serious issue for children in poor and borderline communities, and having limited access to books may have serious consequences.”

JetBlue funded the NYU study. The NYC-headquartered airline has funneled $1.75 million in book donations to kids in many U.S. cities through its “Soar with Reading” initiative. Last year, the program introduced (free) book vending machines to Anacostia and dispensed 27,000 books. The vending project started its second year at the beginning of July.

The We Need Diverse Books Fundraising Campaign and New Video

We Need Diverse Books is a grassroots organization created to address the lack of diverse, non-majority narratives in children’s literature. We Need Diverse Books is committed to the ideal that embracing diversity will lead to acceptance, empathy, and ultimately equality.
Their mission statement is:

We recognize all diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities. Our mission is to promote or amplify diversification efforts and increase visibility for diverse books and authors, with a goal of empowering a wide range of readers in the process. 

The team have launched a crowdfunding venture on Indiegogo and hope to raise $100,000.00 that will be used towards several different projects. Future plans include bringing diverse books and authors into disadvantaged schools, initiating the Walter Dean Myers Award & Grant program, and launching the inaugural Kidlit Diversity Festival in Washington, D.C.

Have a look at a video about the campaign above; it features appearances from Matt de la Peña, John Green, Marie Lu, Cindy Pon, Grace Lin, Lamar Giles, Tim Federle, Jacqueline Woodson, and Arthur Levine. Follow this link to read a transcript. What do you think?

The Illinois Reading Council Conference is a Winner!

Wow.  What a terrific two days this has been. Titled, Literacy in the Land of Lincoln, the conference has been a time filled with ideas, new notions, old and new friends and talk of writing flowing like well aged wine.  Oh, yes.  There was well aged wine, too!


This evening will bring our formal dinner with an entrance by President and Mrs Lincoln.  Our menu is from a state dinner held during President Lincoln's tenure at the White House.  It promises to be lovely.

My presentation was today, and it was a full house--actually, standing room only. My power point, Every Kid Can (Write a Picture Book!) did not let me down, both technically and academically, so I feel great about the outcome.

And so the conference is winding down.  Authors, educators and vendors will soon be on their way home.  I for one, am glad to have attended another year.  I always come away feeling renewed and ready to continue the profession that is right for me--writing books for kids!