Batting Average

by Judy Newman

Willie (“The Say Hey Kid”) Mays, who died on June 18 at the age of 93, had a .302 batting average. For every ten times Willie came to bat, he recorded a hit three times.

Even though he has been called one of the greatest baseball players who ever played—known for being the “first five-tool player in baseball,” he only succeeded in connecting his bat to the ball less than 30 percent of the time.

When I ask my recent college grad friends how many résumés and cover letters they send out before they get a job interview, their “batting averages” are often much lower than Willie’s. They report sending hundreds of cover letters and résumés out into the world before any employer responds. Ditto for the folks in my life who are passionate about fly fishing. It takes a lot of casts and many hours in the water to hook a fish. 

Just like baseball and job seeking and fishing, it takes many tries and much persistence to connect a child to the right books that they will love to read and keep in their home library. We can’t hand a kid a book occasionally and expect them to fall in love with reading. We don’t expect one-hit wonders in most aspects of our lives—why should we when it comes to reading?

Only 30 percent of students can read proficiently by third grade, and the percentages are much lower for kids from marginalized communities. The only way to reverse pernicious declining reading scores across the U.S. is to give all children access to books they will choose to read to develop their reading skills. 

I recently spoke with Charlie Gibson and Kate Gibson on their wonderful podcast, The Book Case. They asked me how books can compete with screen time. I think we book publishers and literacy experts can learn a lot from the digital streamers’ approach:

Provide Choice: We must consistently provide kids with a wide range of books to choose from. We don’t expect all gamers to play games they aren’t interested in. They get to choose what they want to play. Digital streamers understand that kids who are interested in trucks want to be able to choose to watch a show about trucks … not cooking. Cocomelon fans may not want to listen to the latest Taylor Swift song. Kids who love to be scared want to find a show like Goosebumps to watch. You get my point—the power of choice is embedded in digital platforms. And those platforms are accessible and rich with content. 

Choosing Lessons: But kids aren’t born knowing how to choose. They need practice. Can they really judge a book by its cover? What other cues can they use? Kids can learn to recognize the author or illustrator. They can become discerning about the little blurb written about the book. We can offer recommendations by book experts—teachers, other grown-ups, book reviewers and bloggers, and other kids they admire. But we have to offer kids consistent opportunities to use these cues to develop their choosing muscles. We must make those opportunities to choose familiar and engaging—not sporadic.

Give Access: Kids cannot express their reading preferences or develop their choosing muscles if they do not have access to grade-appropriate, brand-new, exciting books—and the cues to help support their choices. We must create new opportunities to give all children—particularly children living in book deserts or attending under-resourced schools—access to a wide range of diverse books in which they can see themselves reflected that they will love to choose and own.

At Scholastic—and partnering with many amazing nonprofit organizations and philanthropists—we have created a classroom book club program for all children attending high Title 1 schools in the U.S. It’s called the United States of Readers and it engages PreK-8th grade students, their teachers, and families at the same time in a groundbreaking program that supports their literacy. Please contact me
at JNewman@Scholastic.com for more information.

Back at home, I am working on improving my own batting average. As a publishing professional and an avid book buyer, I have access to almost any children’s book published. I have spent decades working in children’s book publishing and I am experienced and trained to help kids connect with books they’ll love. But even for me—a so-called “expert,” it is still hard to find the right books for Sophie Rae, the almost 4-year-old in my life. I purchase or take out of the library lots of books, which Sophie Rae has no interest in.

But I am happy to share three favorite titles that emerged from the many books I have shared with Sophie so far this summer: Goodnight Hairiette, self-published by Tanya Wright—whose chapter books about Hairiette will be coming out from Sourcebooks and available at Target beginning this Fall—is a gorgeous picture book in which a beloved grandma story tells to her granddaughter (Hairiette) how it was when she was a child and was not allowed to have her hair go free. Sophie literally requests re-reads of Goodnight Hairiette every night.

Another new favorite is Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller, illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf. I had never heard of his book first published in 2013—or its sequel Sophie’s Squash Go to School (there are now two squash in Sophie’s life). But on my weekly visit to my beloved local bookstore, Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ, I saw Sophie’s Squash was a staff pick. I had a feeling that this book about a little girl who treats her squash as her best friend would appeal to my own Sophie. 

In all of these cases, I had access to the cues that helped me make my choices.

Scholastic is embarking on its second century of delivering on its mission to provide all children and their families and educators with access to discover, choose, and own their own books. Only when we all commit to that mission will we be able to ensure all children see themselves as readers and claim their right to literacy. 

As Scholastic’s first Chief Impact Officer, I am always available to talk with you (JNewman@Scholastic.com) about how you can support this critical literacy work which is the foundation of American Democracy. It’s non-negotiable. We cannot thrive with an illiterate population.

With all due respect to Willie Mays, when it comes to connecting all kids to books that they can choose and read, we cannot settle for a .3 batting average. We need to start hitting some major home runs with every child.

Judy Newman, Chief Impact Officer, Scholastic