Noted pollster Louis Harris has conducted an independent study to determine the effectiveness of the First Book model. This study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Education, surveyed 2,564 individuals over a 14-month period. The results of this study are compelling:
- First Book works for children. More than half of the children — 55% — reported having an increased interest in reading. Additionally, the number of young people demonstrating a "high interest in reading" nearly tripled (increasing from 23% to 61%) after receiving books from First Book.
- First Book works for local programs. 78% of the mentors, administrators and professionals running community-based tutoring and mentoring programs estimated that the "impact of First Book books on a child's desire to read" was "very important."
- First Book works for the community. The members of the First Book Local Advisory Boards surveyed were also overwhelmingly supportive of our efforts in their communities. 98% of them state that their community was "better off" because of First Book's work.
The survey also asked mentors, teachers, and administrators to write their thoughts about First Book and its impact on their reading programs. Their comments speak for themselves:
Conquille Indian Tribe: "A young boy and I taught his mother how to read and we all cried for joy together. It couldn't have happened without First Book."
Coos County Women's Crisis Center: "It's amazing. Families that have never been inside a library before are going in to get library cards. They are very proud of them. Their kids get them, too. Suddenly, they are proud and want to become readers."
Sunnyhill School: "We have a little girl in our program, a pre-school child. She liked her book so much, she slept with it every night under her pillow. She wouldn't part with it for anything!"
Kelso Indian Education: "I had a boy whom I tutor who almost never talked and never said how he felt. Then he read a book we got through First Book, Sometimes I Feel Like A Mouse. Suddenly he began to talk, and to talk about how he felt."
Lives in Transition: "A young boy with behavior problems was taken from the foster home. We lost touch with him, but two months later we found him and he still had his First Book. It was his most valued possession."
Copies of the complete Louis Harris study are available from First Book's national office.
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