Statistics on America's reading habits are startling: one-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives; 42 percent of college graduates never read a book after college; 80 percent of families did not buy or read a book last year; and 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore for the last five years, said Carole Thompson of the Partnership Carson City ant the Kids' Talking Wall Project.
"Literacy has a ripple effect impacting us all at some level. It can limit and frustrate us, or it can open and give confidence to us - as individuals and as a community," Thompson said in a press release. "As a community, we can either provide or bury opportunities for our children."
The Kids' Talking Wall and the Carson City Library believe people can provide opportunities when they begin to turn pages in books with their children.
For many children, the only books they receive are the ones they are issued at school. And while some say books are outdated, the adventures inside them are not.
It is for this reason that The Kids' Talking Wall has joined forces with the Carson City Library Youth Services in launching their Readers are Leaders - community-wide book barrel campaign.
Book barrels will be set up by The Kids' Talking Wall at the Carson Mall on Feb. 13 and once a month thereafter offering free books for children to take home and read. These are gently used books, no torn or missing pages, appropriate for students in grades K-12.
Books appropriate for donation through the book barrel campaign include picture books, chapter books, non-fiction books and novels. Books that are not appropriate for donation include textbooks, teacher's editions and workbooks.
Businesses and organizations that would like to serve as book barrel sites can call Partnership Carson City, The Kids' Talking Wall at 841-4730 Ext. 201.