For years now, my mom (Cora) and I have been talking about literacy initatives. She was a teacher until a few years ago and I recently got a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Washington with an interest in children and youth librarianship, so we’re a pretty perfect match.  Although she stopped teaching (and started writing an education blog instead), she is still incredibly passionate about teaching/education and was trying to figure out how to use that passion in a way that fits with her schedule (which involves living in Florida half the year and New York half the year for my dad’s career). As I was nearing graduation last May, the economy made it such trying to find a children’s librarianship job while wanting to stay in the Seattle area was not going to be easy.

When reading about literacy, one of the issues that becomes quite apparent quickly is the achievement gap in education and how important early literacy (before age 5) is. Research shows that having books in the home has a correlation with later educational achievement. Research has also shown that there are six variables of early literacy that correlate with literacy development:

1. Print awareness (noticing words, knowing how to hold a book)
2. Print motivation (interest in books and reading)
3. Vocabulary (learning names of things)
4. Narrative Skills (describing things and understanding stories)
5. Letter awareness (recognizing letters and the sounds of letters)
6. Phonological awareness (hearing sounds in words)

From that research and our passion came our idea for a non-profit bookmobile that would give story programs to all ages of kids and distribute books to children in low-income communities. For a long time, it was just an idea, but now my mom has bought a Sprinter van, I have put together this website, and our plan is to begin this summer 2011! Keep an eye out for our journey.

Let the adventure begin.