Young readers are getting an assist from Caitlin Clark.
Scholastic is donating 22,000 new books to the Caitlin Clark Foundation, which will then get them in the hands of kids who don’t have easy access to books — especially new and popular books that would be more likely to entice kids to read.
The books are for kids in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Clark’s foundation expects to distribute them to elementary schools, middle schools, children’s hospitals and other non-profit organizations, with an emphasis on Iowa, where Clark was born and raised, and Indiana, where she plays professionally in the WNBA.
‘Reading and education have always been hugely important in my life,’ Clark said in the release announcing the donation, which reflects both her birthday, which is Wednesday, and the Indiana Fever star’s No. 22 jersey.
‘I remember picking out the books from the Scholastic flyer and how empowering that was for me as a child, and how motivated I was to read,’ Clark said. ‘I want to help kids have the same experience, to develop their reading skills and open their imaginations to dream big.’
Reading was already in decline because of the increasing amount of time spent on screens — computers, cell phones and tablets — and it worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic when school, work and free time were all taking place on line. In Scholastic’s most recent Kids & Family Reading Report, the number of kids aged 6 to 17 who said they read five to seven days a week dropped from 37% in 2010 to 28% in 2022. About 40% of U.S. students cannot read at a basic level, according to the National Literacy Institute’s 2022-23 statistics.
Studies have shown that kids who are frequent readers often have role models who read. While that typically means parents, it can be their sports idols, too.
Scholastic often partners with NFL players to encourage reading, but Clark’s foundation is the first for an WNBA player. It’s a natural fit. Education is one of the three pillars of Clark’s foundation, with an emphasis on ‘strong reading skills.’
She’s also wildly popular with young girls and young boys, and her encouragement could help keep kids reading at an age when they start spending more time on screens and extracurricular activities.
‘We need to make radical moves and inspire meaningful improvement to change the trajectory of child literacy rates in America. To do this, we need champion-level advocacy and support, which is what makes collaborating with Caitlin so exciting,’ Judy Newman, the chief impact officer at Scholastic, said in the release.
‘As we’ve seen from the 65,000 students nationwide who participate in the United States of Readers program, access to quality books and positive reading role models are key to developing motivation and self-confidence and increasing literacy,’ Newman said. ‘Caitlin is a proven role model, and we are thrilled to work together with the Caitlin Clark Foundation to make reading more accessible to kids everywhere.”
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