Creating a Book Loan Program for Inner-City Latino Families

摘要

In this paper, Madrigal et al. describe the design, implementation, and impact of a book loan program in an inner-city preschool where books were freely and easily available to low-income primarily Spanish-speaking families, most of whom are recent immigrants. Madrigal et al. collected data on check-out frequency, book titles, and student participation, and took field notes of the interactions between project staff and families during book check-out. In one year, book check-out increased from an average of 1.5 to 16 books per day, with 70% of eligible children checking out books. Six of the eight most popular books are Spanish titles. Questionnaires and field notes indicated that immigrant parents typically place a high value on books.