Are You Living in a Book Desert??

By Mark W.F. Condon, Unite for Literacy vice president

We all know that a desert is a dry, arid region where only the most robust and adaptable plants and animals flourish. The desert metaphor has been used in many disciplines to describe a lack of resources. For example, a “food desert” is a geographic area where affordable and nutritious food is in scarce supply.??

But what is a book desert???

A book desert is a geographic area where fewer than 30 percent of homes have 100 or more books. Unite for Literacy (Unite) uses the desert metaphor to illustrate the availability of literacy resources in geographic areas. Unite first introduced its book desert map at the Clinton Global Initiative—America conference in 2014. The map is used to initiate conversations about book scarcity and its impact on the lives of children who live in them.???

Unite provided data to Esri, the online geographic information system (GIS) software geniuses, to generate the?book desert map. The data included a range of prediction variables—proxies for actual book counts, like family income, culture, and home language. ??

?Look at the map??

When you look at a book desert map, you will notice it is very colorful. Green areas indicate where there are more homes with 100 books. Unite?calls those areas “book gardens.” ?As the color warms to yellow then orange, then red, homes are predicted to have fewer and fewer books. Red areas or book deserts are precited to have the fewest books. Yellow and orange areas fall somewhere in between. ??

The Unite for Literacy book desert map illustrates the structural inequality that exists between red book deserts, where books are scarce, and green book gardens, where families have access to a regular stock and flow of culturally relevant and linguistically appropriate books. ??

?Once you can visualize book scarcity, you might wonder how the presence or absence of books in children’s homes is related to school success???

?The optimum number of books?

In a comprehensive study of social mobility, sociologist Mariah Evans and other researchers?analyzed data gathered from 27 countries around the world over a 20-year period. Interestingly, the absolute best predictor of school success across this array of rich and poor countries from every continent was the number of books in the home. Their data indicate that 100 is the optimum number of books for early school success.??

That number then was associated with the nature of in-depth and elaborate conversations, which Evans et.al. referred to as Family Scholarly Culture. Those rich conversations were more likely to occur in homes with 100 or more books. Those books and engaging conversations taught children about the world beyond their direct experience, exposed them to rich language, and inspired them to be open and curious, preparing them for academic success.??

How does the U.S. fare??

U.S. 8th-grade students who report having more than 100 books in their homes and a daily habit of reading score higher on standardized reading tests than their peers who have fewer books and read less often.?Unfortunately, fewer than 25 percent of American 8th graders report having 100 or more books and a daily habit of reading. ??

Studies like Evans et.al. provide insight into what parents can do to ensure that their children both enjoy and succeed in school during the ages where the foundations of all learning are laid.???

Expanding possibilities where you live?

Using the book desert map?to analyze your own community, what could you and other families do to eradicate book deserts and to plant and cultivate more book gardens? What might educators do? What might the business community do???

For ideas on where to start, Unite invites you to take one small step to change the literacy landscape where you live.??