Focus On Literacy: Books for Babies

 Chandra Powell holds one of her new twins while Grady employee Saundra Quinn talks to her about the Books for Babies program. (Photo by LeAnn Shaw)

Editor’s note: As part of  Atlanta INtown’s focus on literacy, our staff is particularly supportive of Books for Babies, to encourage the value and love of reading at the earliest possible stage of a child’s life.  

   Books for Babies is a project with a lot of good ingredients:
• It’s a collaborative effort: the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library, the Atlanta Library Foundation and Grady Memorial Hospital all support it, and their volunteer forces work together to implement it.
• It is upbeat and well-meaning: It offers encouragement to young mothers to read to their children.
• It has support from high places: John Szabo, the new director of the library, thinks the program can spread to the maternity wards of other hospitals.
•  It is practical and useful: Library applications are put in the hands of the new moms with some background about the various library services available to them.
   Now, if they only had books!
   The project, launched in 1996, was designed to encourage at-risk mothers to read to their children. And, so far, more than 3,000 young mothers have received a sturdy canvas book bag, an infant’s T-shirt with the Books for Babies logo and a copy of Good Night Moon, a beloved favorite since 1947.
   But now, almost 10 years into the effort, the presentation isn’t quite so rich. The day after Chandra Powell, 30, had her twins – Ayden and Austen Guin – at Grady, First Steps employee and volunteer Saundra Quinn, presented her with a plastic bag containing material from the library. But no book.
   “We ran out of Good Night Moon about six months ago,” said Juanita Smith, Grady’s First Steps coordinator for four years.
   Margaret Roach, Volunteer Services manager for the library system, said, “That’s why we’re out there fundraising.” She said each book-bag package – including books – costs about $10 to put together.
    According to Roach, there are an estimated 4,000 babies born each year at Grady.
    At Grady, Smith said, “We see about 25 babies or more a week, so by the end of the month, we have seen at least 100.” (She said they did not visit mothers of babies who will go into governmental custody or of premature babies.) The books, she said, are appreciated:  “They get motivated by that!” The volunteers are trained on how to deliver the message as they present the young mothers with the book and library application.
   “Reading to children very early in their development is critical to future success,” said John Szabo, director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Library system.  “My dream is to have every new baby in our area receive a Books for Babies bag – their first book – and a library card application.”
   Roach cited these numbers to show why Books for Babies is important:
• The American Library Association’s Library Services to Children found that 47 percent of public-aid parents do not have alphabet books at home (in contrast to 3 percent of professional parents).
• The typical middle-class child enters first grade with 1,000 to 1,700 hours of one-on-one picture book reading; a child from a low-income family averages only 25 hours.                         Betty Edge, chair of the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library Foundation for 10 years, said this “crucial need” is being addressed. After 10 years, Books for Babies now becomes “a priority project” of the foundation under the leadership of Etienne LeGrande.
   LeGrande, a marketing consultant and  member of the library foundation board, said, “It’s well known from the data that those kids who can read by the time they get to kindergarten are more likely to be lifelong learners. There is a strong connection between reading and educational success. Our challenge is one of resources. Much public support is needed – and we need a part-time administrator.”

  www.af.public.lib.ga.us