Category Archives: Literacy Crisis Solution

The Book Lady with the Voice of an Angel Has Left Us

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Yet Dolly Parton’s Life Changing Legacy Will Live On

She wasn’t able to have children of her own, yet Dolly Parton gave children all over the world one of the greatest gifts a parent can give. The love of reading.

So far over 300 million books are in the hands of children because of the dream she had, inspired by her father. “The smartest man I ever knew” who never learned to read.

Because of Dolly Parton’s mission to share love and light, “her kids” come to kindergarten ready and eager to learn to read.

I have a feeling the Imagination Library’s wild success is only going to expand mightily going forward.

After all, Dolly is up there singing with the angels now, and she has undoubtedly got the ear of the One who loves children as she does.

My deepest condolences go out to the wonderful people at the Imagination Library who have helped to make her dream come true.

On a personal note, I will be forever grateful to the president of The Imagination Library and Dollywood Foundation, Jeff Conyers, for his support for The Invisible Toolbox. When my agent reached out and invited him to read it in manuscript form for comment, he kindly said yes and then wrote a beautiful blurb that we used on the back cover.

I was beyond thrilled.

Then in 2021 I was invited to speak at the Imagination Library’s biannual Homecoming. That year it was virtual instead of its usual gathering in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, the home of Dollywood. But the upside of that was that volunteers from all over the world, from the UK, Canada, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland, were able to join in.

I’ve been an enthusiastic believer in Dolly’s mission for a long time. Her focus on getting books into the hands of children and their parents from the beginning of their little lives until they start kindergarten is brilliant.

Dolly was an incredibly smart lady who understood that the love of reading and preparation to learn how begins at the beginning, on the lap of a loving parent.

When it comes to declining literacy rates, it’s increasingly important that we take a close look at what children experience in their earliest years before formal school begins. The Imagination Library is destined to become more relevant than ever in addressing this.

Thank you, great lady, for pointing the way.

The Picture Book That Predicted the Literacy Crisis: Part Two

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And What We Can Do About It

When smart devices launched fifteen or so years ago, many believed that access to all the information in the world at our fingertips could only enhance human life.

Parents gave their children phones and tablets. Schools embraced educational technology, issuing devices to each student and adopting technology-based curriculum.

If you happened across Goodnight iPad as I did in 2011, you might have picked up on the warnings that emanated from its pages. I explained some of them in part one. You may want to take a look at that before you go on if you haven’t already.

It’s taken the wider public nearly a generation to see what Goodnight iPad warned us about.

Now we know. The generation that grew up never knowing a world without smart devices has disproportionately experienced more mental health and learning issues.

As it turns out, access to all the information in the world is not necessarily what children need.

The good news is that people are waking up and are ready and willing to rethink what kids actually do require in order to thrive.

As I mentioned in part one, my reading of Goodnight iPad in 2011 elicited a thunderbolt of insight.

Having taught elementary school for years, I could already see the impact of smart devices on the students who had them.

If a child had the ability to choose to play a game, scroll Instagram on an iPad—or read a book—what would they choose? It wasn’t difficult to see where the proliferation of smart devices would lead.

Any teacher knows that the amount of time a child chooses to read outside of school has a direct impact on their ability to achieve.

Now, here we are, fifteen years later and the data has shown us. Reading for pleasure among adults as well as children has declined. Literacy rates are down. In fact, achievement across all subjects has declined.

Is there a way back from our technological capture that, post-pandemic, has meant more time on devices for children even during the school day? Or are we doomed to a future of distraction and decline?

I believe there is a way back. It’s very simple, and it begins with parents.

  • Read to your child daily. Begin at birth. If your child is older, it’s not too late. Start now. Let them see you reading. You are their best model. Never really enjoyed it? You just haven’t found the right books yet. Help them find theirs too.
  • Delay giving your child a personal device. Delay, delay, delay. Be on the lookout for families who are like-minded which will diminish the peer pressure factor.
  • If possible, choose a school that uses pencil and paper and does not place EdTech on 1:1 devices at the center of learning for students. For young children, it’s a good sign if they have ‘technology’ as a stand-alone subject, not as the primary tool of learning.

For me, the bolt of insight Goodnight iPad struck gestated into writing The Invisible Toolbox: The Power of Reading to Your Child from Birth to Adolescence.

I wanted parents to understand why shared reading is one of the greatest gifts they can give their child.

My theory of the invisible toolbox was initially anecdotal, based on my experience and classroom observations. But neuroscience has proven it to be spot on.

Dr. John Hutton, Pediatrician and Director of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Reading and Literacy Discovery Center, has done exciting research that confirmed what I observed in the classroom.

Through neuroimaging the brains of preschool age children, Hutton and his team discovered that the amount of parent-child reading—and screen time—directly impact brain development. 

Hutton observed that the brains of children who have been read to regularly and had less screen time developed more white matter tracts than children who had more screen time.

White matter is an indication that the neurons are firing and making connections all over the brain. Cross-brain neurological activity is a physical reaction to reading and being read to.  These children showed a greater capacity for language skills and higher executive functioning than their peers who had more digital exposure.

We can think of the white matter of the brain as the physical manifestation of the metaphor of the invisible toolbox. The pre-literacy tools a child will carry to kindergarten with them are a by-product of these neurological connections.

Tragically, children who are not read to will not develop the neurological language connections they need in order to learn. They actually arrive at kindergarten already behind.

When parents teach their children to love reading for pleasure and immerse them in real life experiences over virtual ones by delaying personal screen use, they create a foundation in which their child can thrive both emotionally and academically.

The logical outcome of the scenario portrayed in Goodnight iPad does not have to be determinative.

Parents have a choice.

The Literacy Crisis Has a Simple Solution

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Here’s How a Federal Initiative Can Turn It Around

According to the Children’s Reading Foundation, 4 out of 10 children begin kindergarten 1-3 years below grade level.

What exactly does this mean? It means these children lack the pre-literacy skills they need to learn to read.

Even with appropriate instruction going forward this gap is difficult to close. 75% of these children will not catch up to their peers who came to kindergarten prepared.

You may be wondering why good teaching seldom catches these children up with their peers. Watch here to understand why this is so difficult.


If we’re going to be successful in overcoming the literacy crisis, we have to direct our efforts toward the earliest years. Here’s how it can be done.

Initiatives of the Past Show Us the Way

In the 1960s two public relations campaigns were rolled out that dramatically changed the attitudes and habits of Americans.

When the Surgeon General of the U.S. released a study warning of the carcinogenic effects of smoking, it radically shifted Americans’ behavior.

Cigarettes lost their “cool,” became socially unacceptable, and Americans gave them up.

They chose for health when they had information.

In the same decade, Lady Bird Johnson launched her “Keep America Beautiful Campaign” nationally that made littering practically an ethical crime.

Even school children were taught that throwing trash out the window of your car was wrong and disrespectful.

Every child was sent home with a plastic litter bag and told to hang it in the family car.

It worked. Throwing trash out of the car and littering public spaces became anathema.

What Do These History Lessons Have to Teach Us Now?

The federal initiatives of the past show us that public opinion and practice can change dramatically when Americans have information and support.

Here’s how a similar two-step initiative can be applied to roll back the literacy crisis nationally.

1️⃣ Educate Parents

Initiate a national public relations campaign that explains why shared reading from birth is essential for school readiness and learning to read.

The digital revolution has left a generation of parents in its wake that does not understand how important this is for a child’s brain development.

2️⃣ Guarantee Access to Books

Federally fund every child’s enrollment in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library from birth. Just $155 per child covers the cost of delivering a free book every month from birth until kindergarten.

This means every American begins life and school with a personal library of 60 books.

Photo credit: Arkansas Imagination Library

This solution is how we overcome the two obstacles preventing literacy success. It’s simple, affordable, and has a historical precedent for effectiveness.