Book Trust, a non-profit that focuses on building literacy skills and donating books to low-income children, stopped by West Seattle Elementary School on Thursday, Nov. 29 to deliver books to students, according to Seattle Public Schools.

Book Trust has been working in partnership with SPS and West Seattle Elementary since 2007, allowing children to pick out for their very own books to take home – building a personal library and promoting literacy skills.

Book Trust cites research “that children living in middle-income communities, on average, own 13 books. Yet, more than half of the children living in low-income communities do not have any books in their homes. In fact, in areas of poverty, the ratio of books to children is one book per every 300 children. Without access to books, children will never develop the literacy skills necessary to be successful in school. In fact children who are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school.

“Book Trust’s unique program of book choice and ownership sparks a love of reading and contributes directly to increasing literacy skills of children from low-income families—skills that are essential to developing habits for life-long learning."