by Emily Ball Cicchini, Executive Director

When we first began talking about the importance of having 20 books at home, we set our sights on 2020. It was an ambitious goal, but also a wonderfully concrete one: children need books of their own—books they can choose, revisit, carry around, sleep beside, and ask someone to read again and again.

Before COVID-19 disrupted so much for children and families, we had made encouraging progress. About 70% of the families we surveyed reported having at least 20 children’s books at home. That was worth celebrating. It also reminded us that reaching a goal is not the same as sustaining it. Children grow. Their interests change. Their reading abilities develop. And families need continued access to books that meet children where they are now.

Twenty Books Still Matter

The goal of 20 books at home remains important to me. A home library gives children opportunities to choose what they want to read, return to familiar stories, practice new skills, and see reading as part of everyday family life.

But in today’s economic environment, providing 20 new books to every child in a single year would be prohibitively expensive. It could also encourage us to focus too much on the number of books distributed at one moment, rather than on a child’s continuing relationship with books and reading.

So we began to think about the goal differently.

Four Books a Year, Over Time

If BookSpring can provide four books a year to the same children, in the same trusted settings, over at least five years, each child can build a home library of 20 books.

This approach is more financially sustainable—but I believe it may also be better for children.

A book selected for a two-year-old should be different from one selected for that same child at age four, six, or eight. By staying connected with children and families over time, we can offer books that are increasingly responsive to each child’s developmental age, reading level, language, culture, and changing interests.

Instead of receiving one large group of books all at once, children can experience the excitement of new books arriving throughout childhood. Each new book becomes another invitation to read together, talk together, and discover something new.

The Same Children, the Same Settings

The words “the same children” are essential to this strategy. We are not simply trying to distribute more books in more places. We want to build lasting relationships with children and families through the schools, early childhood centers, healthcare clinics, and community partners they already know and trust.

Consistency gives us the opportunity to do more than increase the number of books in a home. It allows us to reinforce family reading habits, encourage children’s choices, share age-appropriate reading support, and learn what helps families continue reading together.

Building Readers, One Book at a Time

Twenty books at home is still a meaningful goal. But the deeper goal has always been to help children grow up with books—and with the experience of being read to, listened to, and encouraged as readers.

We did not give up on 20 books. We found a stronger path toward it: four thoughtfully selected books each year, provided consistently over time, growing alongside the child.

One book can spark joy. A steady stream of books, year after year, can help build a reader.