Stories to Share
Unique community program inspires a love of books
Young children come into the Napa Park Homes Community Room every Thursday evening looking like they can barely contain their excitement. Clutched in their tiny hands is a red canvas tote bag full of books their parents have been reading with them during the week.
Each Thursday is a big day for these children because they get to exchange their red bags for new ones full of new books that they take home and share with their parents. The book bag exchange, an integral part of an award-winning pre-literacy program called Raising A Reader, inspires preschool children to learn to love books and prepares them for a successful learning experience in kindergarten, which studies have shown will benefit them throughout their lives.
Deysi López is a sweet, shy four-year-old who lives in Napa with her parents, Rosalia and Miguel, and her seven-year-old brother Andrés. Deysi was enrolled at Fuller Park Head Start and participated in Child Start’s Raising A Reader program. She loved going to school and learning English.
Deysi and the other children participating in Raising A Reader received red book bags, filled each week with age-appropriate books (some of which were bilingual in Spanish and English) to take home and share with their families. Deysi became very attached to her little red bag and couldn’t wait for her parents to share the books with her each night.
Quotes from our Families
“I would not have read as often to my son if it were not for the book bags Raising A Reader provides. It has made me more conscientious about reading to my child, and gives me a goal to read more often.”
“I started reading books to my daughter when she took them home and I realized how important and funit is to read to my child. Now I am interested in going to the library to get books for everyone in the family.”
“My child likes for us to read to him over and over again. With Raising A Reader, he has become very interested in books, and asks me a lot of questions. I enjoy those moments with him very much.”