Melanie Garcia-Macias, 9, reads a book provided by literacy organization West County Reads while her mother does the wash at Clean Express Coin Laundry in Richmond. Credit: Lillian Mongeau, EdSource Today
Galvanized by a national reading campaign, communities across California are launching innovative partnerships that are resulting in new early literacy programs in schools, libraries and even laundromats.
“There’s a lot of books here, really good books,” said 9-year-old Melanie Garcia-Macias, who sat with her back to a big red bookshelf at the end of a long line of washing machines at the Clean Express Coin Laundry in Richmond one recent Wednesday. A copy of “The Night Before Christmas” was splayed open on her lap.
“You can take one home, but you have to bring one back or bring one from your home to replace it,” she said. “I think it’s a pretty good plan.”
The plan – giving students free access to engaging titles while their parents fluff and fold – is just one of the ingenious ways communities are opening doors to literacy through the nationalCampaign for Grade Level Reading, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Children who are not reading on grade level by the end of third grade – 53 percent of California’s children – are four times more likely to drop out of high school, according to research by the
