Book bag exchange program makes age-appropriate stories accessible

With the nearest library a 30 minute drive away, Save the Children’s Raising a Reader book bag exchange program provides the children in Queets, Washington with age-appropriate books that they otherwise would not be able to access. Children take these books home for two weeks and then receive a new batch of books. Save the Children’s Program Coordinator, Tracie, operates the book bag exchange at the Queets Head Start classroom, which houses 22 children ages 3 to 5. She also visits the school weekly for read-aloud sessions with the children.

Over the past three years, Save the Children has partnered with the Quinault Nation Head Start and the Lake Quinault School District in Washington State to offer early language and literacy services through the Early Steps to School Success Program. The two-part program also includes a home visiting component to help families give their children, from newborns to three-year-olds, an early start on development. That’s why many of the kids in the Queets Head Start classroom have known Kenney, who has worked with them and/or their siblings, from birth.

Thank you all for providing kids like Flora and Alina, seen here interacting with a book in a Head Start classroom, with the materials and services needed to become successful readers!