We know how to stack the odds in favor of health, vigor — and literacy. But we don't do it for all our children.

I’m tired of stories about “That One Child Who Beat The Odds”. Let’s make stories about thousands of children raised in environments that foster health and vigor. Odds are, most of them will thrive. Odds are, most raised in environments lacking an abundance of books won’t.

It’s not about That One Child. It’s about The Odds.

Books from Birth stack the odds in favor of literacy. Parent/infant interactions are key to planting seeds of literacy. The BEST odds come with small, oft-repeated moments of interactions with print and images. Books at home close to hand every day make oft-repeated moments easy.

Screens cannot match the depth of meaningful interaction between the sound of a parent’s voice and the infant’s mind when it connects that sound to an image. No coding comes close to the neurological magic occurring in that infant’s brain at that moment.

Literacy roots grow from uncountable numbers of such connections. Books -- sturdy, no-battery- required, books are the best tools foster those connections.