My target audience is anyone who touches the lives of children directly or indirectly from 0-8 years old (i.e., family members, youth organizations, community organizations, faith-based organizations, legislators, school personnel, teacher prep programs, caregivers, and medical personnel).

A unique feature of my book is that when you read the introduction and first chapter, you may skip from chapter to chapter. You don’t have to read it from front to back to get the point that learning to read is a multilayered process.

I placed relevant research on reading in one place for readers to see the nuances of reading and how it develops over time; in the home, in school, and in the environment. I also want readers to see how they can directly or indirectly support young children in becoming proficient readers. Everyone has a part to play in developing readers and my book helps readers find their part. Additionally, readers do not have to read the book in chapter order. After reading the first chapter, the reader may skip around the book.

I wrote this book to share the research on reading and to share how serious and widespread the reading epidemic is throughout the United States. I wanted to share strategies that those who are in a child’s ecosystem may use to support reading in young children. The book is for readers to understand how we landed in this current reading place, the impact on our children, democracy, and society if we do not build good readers. I want readers to see the disparities in experiences that young children face on a daily basis in some schools and the struggles that goes into building proficient readers. Finally, I want everyone to understand the complexities of reading what it takes to produce competent readers.

After reading my book, I want readers to know the brain was not designed to read, we must teach it to read. Reading doesn’t begin at five but at the moment of conception. 90% of a child’s brain development happens before age 5. Everything that children experience and are exposed to through the first five years creates a resume. That resume will dictate whether reading will be a challenge or not when they enter kindergarten.

Each chapter can be a book of its own. I included each chapter to show readers how complex reading is and how every aspect within a child’s ecosystem is important in developing proficient readers. For example, during the first five years of life; nutrition, physical and mental health, language, home literacy, reading, stress levels, exposure to quality preschool, school attendance, and summer learning experiences all have a direct impact on children’s foundational reading skills.

Additionally, family socioeconomic status, stability, home life, interactions with the criminal justice system, neighborhoods, quality elementary schools, early reading instruction, reading curriculum and assessment, youth programs (before, after, and summer school), youth organizations all have an impact on learning. Historical information was added to provide context to the reading problem and to help readers understand how we reached this point in the reading saga. All the chapters relate to children’s reading proficiency either directly or indirectly. I also included all the chapters for readers to see the whole reading picture. If I only included the chapter on the science of reading, for example, readers might take that to mean that all children need to become proficient readers is the science of reading. However, we know so much more goes into building proficient readers.

The topic was hard to read and write about because reading has always been an issue in this country for certain groups of children and here in 2024 we are still experiencing reading challenges. Specifically, chapters eight (culturally relevant teaching) and nine (segregated experiences) tugged at my heart. Chapter eight covers stereotypes, implicit and explicit biases, book banning, and white washing history. The chapter was heavy to write because it’s hard to believe we are experiencing some of the same issues that we experienced years ago. We are in a sad state of affairs when we try to censor history, what teachers teach, and what children read. These strategies do not bring people together, instead, they tear us apart. Chapter nine bothered me because certain subgroups of children still face inferior educational experiences, denial of advanced courses, and dilapidated underfunded and under resourced schools. We get a clear picture of what some students are offered during a typical school day that others do not experience.

Chapters three (brain development), chapter four (language development), chapter five (preschool), and chapter seven (the science of reading) were a joy to write because they provide hope, strategies, and direction. Developing good readers begins before a child is born with significant sensitive periods occurring before age three. Maximizing children’s language, experiences, vocabulary, experiences with books, do not cost anything but will cost everything if not done appropriately. If families have this information, I am hopeful they will use it to give their children a head start. The preschool chapter offers a road map of what quality should look like and what preschool programs should look like to build foundational skills in reading. This chapter helps families decide what type of early experiences their children will be exposed to. It provides families with information when selecting preschool programs for their children. The state of New Jersey and many others offer free preschool to four-year-olds and in some states three-year-olds as well. While more and more preschool programs are popping up, we must take a closer look at quality. The research is clear, quality preschool is a key to changing the reading narrative in this country. Chapter seven is one of my favorites because it talks about the science of reading. Bound by decades of research across all disciplines, it provides the greatest hope for getting children on the road to reading proficiency. The science of reading tells us what needs to be taught and how it needs to be taught to build solid readers. I was extremely happy to learn, through my research, that the science of reading is beginning to spread as more and more people are learning about it. Some of the top reading curricula developers have embraced the science of reading as well as some teacher prep programs in colleges and universities. There are many states that have legislation regarding research-based reading instruction. This makes me very happy, but we still have a long way to go.

This book is about children not reading proficiently by third grade. I pulled together a body of research on reading and placed it in one place to show how historic systems and structures have plagued our children for generations and how current issues have continued the process. The fight to read isn’t new, it has always been an issue; either to include or to exclude. The systems are not broken, they are doing exactly what they were designed to do. It is up to all of us to break those systems and tear down the strongholds and put our children on a path of academic success.

The purpose of my book is to demonstrate that the brain was not designed to read, we must teach it to read. Reading doesn’t begin at five but at the moment of conception. 90% of a child’s brain development happens before age 5. Everything that children experience and is exposed to through the first five years creates a resume. That resume will dictate whether reading will be a challenge or not when they enter kindergarten. Developing specific skills early on will help develop the reading brain and lay the foundation for more advanced reading skills to come. We can’t do anything about what happens in the later grades until we fix what happens to children before they enter kindergarten and what happens to them in the early grades.

My book is not a traditional book where you read chapters in order. It’s not a how to teach reading book for educators. It’s simply about the ecosystems that surround a child that hinders or promotes reading proficiency. My book offers viable solutions to change the current reading narrative.

65% of children in 4th grade are struggling to read. Reading is a right afforded to all children but for far too long, it has been denied or withheld from some. This is a problem for the future of our country. Children who do not read well typically become disengaged with school and will eventually drop out and either engage with drugs/alcohol and the criminal justice system or they become dependent on public assistance giving way to generational poverty. The preschool to prison pipeline is real. This cannot be the answer to the future of our country or to democracy in general. We must get this right for the future of our country.

I want readers to buy this book to see how they can play a part in the reading process of children in their own space using their own platform. There are many things we can do right now to help children read better that cost little to no money. I want readers to see how much control we have in building solid readers particularly during the first five years of life. We do not need to have biological children and we do not need to be educators to support reading proficiency. Donating books, providing scholarship funds for children to experience learning outside of the classroom, purchasing good literature for children, providing information on brain development, and providing various types of programs for younger children in the community are all opportunities to support reading development without being directly involved with children.

After I completed my dissertation in 2020, I had so much information in my head, good information, information that I needed to share and spread, information that made me angry. All this information was stored in my brain, and I needed to get it out in an organized way that made sense and that could be retrieved later on. A friend told me about a technique called brain dumping where you write or type whatever comes to mind – just to get the information out of your head. My experience produced about 75 pages of notes. I organized those notes so that I could easily retrieve them when needed. Some sections were not as meaty as others so I added more information and research. I named the different sections for organization purposes. 

I shared what I had done with a group of colleagues and without hesitation, one asked what was the title of my book. I shot back, “This isn’t a book, I’m just organizing my thoughts so that I can use the information down the line.” My colleagues kept asking, “What’s the title of your book.” I never imagined writing a book. I went back over my notes with the book notion in mind. I realized I had important information, but I was uncertain how to package it and disseminate it without it being a boring dry read because research is not always exciting to read. So, I added personal and professional commentary to clarify some of the points that I was making and to add flavor to the book that wasn’t a book yet. I became excited at the possibility and went further. Because I never want to rely on one data point, I gathered a small group of educators from around the county (urban and suburban districts, teachers, supervisors, and administrators, all with different cultural backgrounds) to discuss some of the topics in the book that wasn’t a book yet. The conversations were so powerful that I ended up adding our sessions to the book that wasn’t a book yet. After a great deal of time organizing and revising, low and behold, I had a book on my hands. The book that wasn’t a book suddenly became a book. I read it for myself from cover to cover and immediately It Takes a Village to Raise a Reader was born, and I realized that it is a book for everyone.

This is a research-based book that is based on my dissertation on reading fadeout. I want readers to see that reading is a well-researched topic and the information that is asserted in this book is based on years of research. I don’t want anyone to think I made this information up. I want readers to take my book and use it to further research the topic for themselves. Ultimately, I want readers to use the information in my book to make changes in the reading narrative.

I have been in education for over 35 years in almost every capacity and I have seen the impact on children who can’t read proficiently. I lived through the war on reading (still going on to this day) and the many struggles of reading instruction to avail for most children. I also have first hand knowledge on what it feels like to struggle to read because it took a while for me to learn to read proficiently. Therefore, I know both sides to this war; as a student and as an educator and it’s not pretty. Historically, outside forces have created mandates, legislation, methods, strategies, curricula, programs, etc. on the educational system without their input and expected miracles in return. It’s time for educators to say what’s in the best interests of children and in particular what is best for reading instruction. I believe that as an educated woman of color, I am the perfect person to deliver this message on what our children need to be successful readers. Unfortunately, as a community, some of us have been traumatized or turned off by the school system because our voices are seldom heard and our needs are not met. Additionally, we become intimidated when we hear the words: science, reading, and the brain together in one sentence. I believe I bring a clear message based on my background on what it takes to build proficient readers and I know I will be able to connect with readers on this topic in a way that is clear and understandable. The black and brown community needs to hear about the science of reading from more people of color because the cost of not reading proficiently impacts us the most. I have the experience, the knowledge, the passion, the drive, the research, and the skill set to be a spokesperson on understanding what it takes to produce proficient readers.