Whiteside United Way's free-book program turning 5

Photos by Louis Brems/SVS Colton Bland, 4, of Rock Falls, reads a book with his mom Kim at their home. Kim signed Colton up for the Literacy is Fun for Everyone program after finding an information packet in her birthing gift basket at CGH Medical Center. TEXT INSET: Colton reviews the book after reading it first with his mother. The program has provided him one book a month since his birth.

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BY JOSEPH BUSTOS

SVS REPORTER

jbustos@svnmail.com

As Kim Bland read Colton's favorite book, "The Rooster Can't Cock-a-Doodle-Doo," her son made it a point to finish some of the sentences.

"Cough, cough, and the rooster whispered. 'I can't ...'"

"Cock-a-doodle-doo," the 4-year-old shouted.

It's one of dozens of free books Colton has received from Literacy is Fun for Everyone. He and about 1,400 other Whiteside County children enrolled in the United Way program receive a book a month, from birth to age 5.

L.I.F.E. celebrates its five-year anniversary next month. Next year, 259 of its little readers will turn 5 and prepare to enter kindergarten, aging out of the program, which was launched to help students get a head start on reading, United Way Director Russ Siefken said.

The United Way found Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program - which actually chooses and sends the books - and decided to sign up.

"We thought, 'Let's take a chance on it, and in the end of the five years, hope these kids are ready to go to kindergarten,'" Siefken said.

Bland signed up Colton knowing that kids these days are expected to know more than how to tie their shoes and say the alphabet when they get to kindergarten. "It creates a foundation for learning," she said.

Since Colton's birth on Feb. 7, 2003, Bland has read to him using the books he receives through L.I.F.E.

The books arrive with the child's name on them, another thing for them to look forward to, Siefken said.

Because repetition helps children learn new words, they read books over and over again. Some became so worn they fell apart and "bit the dust," she said. Others have been passed along to other children.

The program is operated entirely on community donations, such as Rotary Club fundraisers, and the $10,000 that the United Way of Whiteside County allocates every year to the L.I.F.E. program. It takes $27 per child per year, or about $38,000, to make the program work.

CGH Medical Center pitches in and buys the first book, "The Little Engine That Could," and when the child turns 5, he or she receive "Look Out, Kindergarten, Here I Come."

"Literacy is important. Studies show literacy is tied to job skills," said Jennifer Slaney, the Sterling Public Library librarian who runs the program's database. "Some families can't afford books. The program is a great way to expose kids to books."

Reach Joseph Bustos at (815) 625-3600, (815) 284-2222 or (800) 798-4085, ext. 529.