Here’s some good news at the end of another crazy week in Biden’s America. Early childhood literacy is an important cause to support. Children in Tennessee and their parents are thrilled that the governor knows this and is providing free books for summer reading.

Learning loss happens over summer break for school children, even among the best students. It’s normal. Tennessee has a program called the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation (GELF). The program is being expanded this summer to include all rising 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-grade students enrolled in public school. Scholastic is partnering with the foundation to deliver 1.2 million books to more than 200,000 students, teachers, and librarians his summer.

They are described as “surprise books” to keep young children engaged with reading. The state is funding the program. Six packages of grade-level books will be delivered directly to the homes of the students participating in the program, at no cost, to families in 152 school districts.

I love this so much. I’m a reader, as is my husband, and our son. Encouraging a young child to read is a great gift that will benefit that child throughout his or her life. I remember reading The Bobbsey Twins books, and later, Nancy Drew books. Nancy Drew was an early favorite series. My son grew up with Harry Potter. So many fond memories revolve around reading books.

There is an opt-out option for families. Children are enrolled in school districts and charter schools, making it easy for all K-3 students to be a part of the program. This year 40,000 more students will be getting books compared to 2022.

“My son struggles to read but is making improvements by the week,” said one parent from Warren County, who joined the program last summer. “These couldn’t have come at a more perfect time!”

Establishing an early love of reading puts a child on the path to scholastic success.

A Morgan County educator pointed out that when schools are closed for the summer, access to books diminishes. “Many of our students do not have access to books at home so this is a great program to get books into students’ hands.”

“If we don’t get reading right, everything else can go wrong,” said James Pond, GELF President. “Our goal is to promote a culture of reading in Tennessee by meeting students where they are with the books and resources they need to become lifelong learners—and we hope other states look to us as a leader in collaborative early literacy efforts.”

Research shows that students who do not read over the summer lose two to three months of reading proficiency—but reading four to six books has the potential to stop, mitigate, or reverse this “summer slide.”

This is the fourth summer for the program that collaborates with Scholastic. The Home Library program has grown by 528% since 2020, delivering more than 3.1 million books to 509,000 elementary school students and teachers. The books are chosen by GELF’s Educator Advisory Council, comprised of a diverse group of 28 Tennessee educators. 97% of parents report that their children were thrilled to receive the books and they were valuable to their family.