Give the gift of reading, a valuable skill in Stanislaus County and everywhere

This is the season of gift giving. Frantic shoppers rush to find the perfect gift at a discounted price. There is a constant hum of worry about getting something for everyone on the list.

What is the perfect gift? Will the treasure you buy find its way to the trash bin shortly after the holidays? Well, how about the gift of a book? Of the love of reading? Of literacy? Of a life-long skill that will keep the doors of many professional aspirations open?

Nationally, half of U.S. adults cannot read at the eighth grade level.

Nationally, 61% of low-income families have no books in their homes for their children.

Nowhere is this gift more needed than Stanislaus County. Here, about one third of children arrive at the portal of their kindergarten experience “ready” for the start of their formal education. The other children are behind on their first day of school. Only 39% of third graders in this county scored at or exceeds standard (pardon the assessment jargon) on their English language arts state tests in the spring of 2019.

Bottom line: this county is looking at about one third of its children being proficient readers.

So, for the good of these children and the adults they will become, please consider a book for the perfect present. Send the message that reading is important. And take the time to find a book that matches the recipient.

There is lots of help for that. Talk to a librarian. You can go in person or call the library branch closest to you. Email the school librarian and ask what titles are popular with students. Chat with the Barnes and Noble or Yesterday’s Books employee who works in the children’s section. Go to the internet and search for Caldecott and Newbery award winning titles.

Then act on the information. Procure a free library card in your child’s name. Provide a gift card for a book store for your godchild.

And most importantly, seal the deal. Take your niece to the library and help pick out a book. Drive your grandson to the store and spend some time looking over the options for purchase. Sit down and read the book to the child once it is chosen. Not once. Not twice, but many, many times. Have fun with it. Use gestures and different voices. Point out fun stuff in the illustrations. Ask “I wonder” questions as you read.

Your present for someone on the list might be to help local agencies working on literacy in this county. Reach out to Friends of the Modesto Library and buy a Barnes and Noble gift certificate from them. Contact Learning Quest and donate to their causes – some for the children of their adult students. Think about honoring a friend who has everything by paying for a child’s entry into the Imagination Library of Stanislaus County for free books.

The impact of literacy lasts a lifetime. Our county needs this gift of reading more than ever this year.