The impact of owning books: Q&A

A 2020 meta-analysis by de Bondt et al. examined book gifting programmes’ impact on the home learning environment and on children’s literacy-related behaviour and skills.

It drew on 44 eligible studies of three early book giveaway programmes, mainly from the United States and the United Kingdom:

• In Reach Out to Read (18 studies), paediatricians and nurse practitioners gave away up to 10 books at well-child visits before the age of 5, mainly to low-income families. They also explained the importance of shared book-reading for cognitive development.
• In Bookstart (11 studies), community health workers or librarians gave away 1-2 books and a flyer about shared reading to parents of infants.
• In Imagination Library (15 studies), children received up to 60 books: one book per month by mail until age 5.

To be included, articles had to compare participating families with a control group that did not receive the programme; and provide enough data to calculate effect sizes (using Cohen’s d, a standardised way to measure the difference between two groups). 

20 of the studies reported results related to children’s literacy skills. Overall, they found that book giveaway programmes had a statistically significant effect on children’s literacy skills (d=0.25).

Children who received books were also more interested in reading (d=0.38), read with their parents more frequently (d=0.36), and had an improved home learning environment (d=0.31).

Programmes that demonstrated shared book reading, provided an information session or included multiple personal contacts with caregivers were more effective at improving children’s literacy skills.

A 2019 paper found that across 35 mainly lower- and middle-income countries, preschool children with at least one children’s book at home were twice as likely to be on track in foundational literacy and numeracy than children without any books.

How do we know? The research team used the UNICEF multiple-indicator cluster survey to look at the relationship between book ownership and school readiness. 

The survey included data from 100,012 three- and four-year-old children from 35 countries. 32 of these were lower- and middle-income countries, and 11 were from sub-Saharan Africa.

The survey asked caregivers about the number of children’s books at home and assessed children’s literacy and numeracy skills. 

Children were “on track” if they met two of three criteria (adjusted for age): could they identify or name at least 10 letters; recognise and name all numbers from 1-10; and read at least four simple, popular words?

Only 51.8% of children from the survey had at least one children’s book at home, and only a third were on track for foundational literacy and numeracy.

But the children with at least one book at home – even just one! – were twice as likely to be on track, even when adjusted for household wealth, urban/rural settings, mother’s education level and child’s age in months.

A 2010 study used high-quality, nationally-representative samples from the long-running World Inequality Study to estimate the impact of home library size on educational attainment (how many years of school a person completed).

The research team used data from 73,349 adults in 27 countries over six decades, who were asked to recall their home library size at age 14. They hypothesised that the number of books at home is a good proxy for “scholarly culture”, a way of life in homes where books are “numerous, esteemed, read and enjoyed” that supports literacy development and educational success. 

They estimated the effect of the number of books at home on educational attainment, using controls for parents’ education level, class and occupation.

The study found that:

• Children growing up in a home with many books (500 or more) complete 3.2 more years of school than children with no books or few books, even after controlling for factors that give children an educational advantage (including gender; parents’ education levels; father’s occupation and class; and national GDP during childhood).
• Growing up in a home full of books was as beneficial as having university-educated rather than unskilled parents, and twice as beneficial as having a professional rather than an unskilled father.
• For Black South Africans under apartheid, the effect was even larger: a child in a home with 500 books was expected to complete 4 more years of school than a child with just 1 book at home.
• This trend was consistent in all 27 countries; under capitalism, communism and apartheid; and from the 1940s to the 1990s.

The study also found that while a large home library is particularly powerful, even a few books make a difference. In homes where parents have little to no formal education, children with just 25 books complete two more years of school on average than children with no books at home. And in homes with few books, each additional book leads to more schooling.

Book sharing is even more impactful than just talking or playing! This is because books: 

• have more diverse vocabulary and complex language; 
• encourage caregivers to use more words per minute; 
• promote the responsive “serve-and-return” interactions that build neural connections and communication skills;
• increase talk about characters’ feelings and behaviours, which builds emotional intelligence (Huston 2023).

It sounds like a no-brainer, but when books are present in homes, parents are able to share books with children, and are more likely to do so. In South Africa, books at home are a stronger predictor of reading with children than education level, differences in household income (below ~$1500 per month), gender, number of children in the home, or whether the adult was read to when they were a child (Polzer Ngwato et al 2023).

A randomised controlled trial in Kenya compared (a) just books, (b) books plus a once-off workshop, and (c) books plus a more intensive intervention. It found that:

• While a once-off workshop improved book sharing quality and child vocabulary, more intensive interventions did not further increase quantity or quality of caregiver-child book sharing.
• All groups, including the books-only group, saw more reading and better child comprehension.

In the South African Yizani Sifunde project, where each child received ~25 books, caregivers read with children more often whether or not they attended parent workshops. Other positive parenting practices, like drawing or storytelling, increased more among adults who attended workshops (von Blottnitz 2024). This suggests that books in homes can shift behaviour, even without additional support.

In India, a randomised controlled trial that provided books and book sharing training found that children in homes that did not receive books or book sharing training, but lived within 100 metres of families who did, also had a significant increase in child development (using a combined score of language, socio-emotional and motor skills). This suggests that introducing books to book-poor communities can start to change culture and social norms for all. 

In South Africa, Book Dash works through partners across the country who work directly with children and families. This helps boost book sharing and reading – but interventions do not need to be extensive to start shifting family reading habits. Giving children books to own is a cost-effective intervention that is proven to spark more reading.

When even a few picture books are present in a home: 

• A busy parent can make a fast and automatic decision to read, despite the time constraints and pressures they face.
• A child can ask a parent to read to them.
• If it’s enjoyable, both children and adults are likely to do it again. 

Research shows that it works: parents who receive free books read with their children more often, and are more likely to say reading books is a favourite activity. (Klass et al 2009)

In the Eastern Cape in South Africa, researchers observed a “nudge” effect and a “joy and pride” effect that interacted to increase book sharing in preschool children’s homes  (von Blottnitz 2024). Children who received books enthusiastically pressured parents to read with them (the “nudge”), and parents were impressed with their children’s ability to understand, remember and narrate stories (“joy and pride”) – which led them to read together more often.