A Riddle

From Charles Paolino's Blog

How can you foster early literacy with no money and no library?
How about a free, age appropriate book, sent to your house monthly that you can keep forever!

Harold Grinspoon’s is a philanthropist on a mission to spread books about Judiasm to children and families who want to learn.  His organization is called PJ Library (PJ for the pajamas the kids wear when they are reading the books!) and it began when he noticed that the children at Passover Seder were happily reading books about the holiday.  They were learning the story of the Israelites and asking their parents questions - Grinspoon was inspired...he came up with the idea of sending Jewish-themed children’s books to interested families as a way to help them learn about their culture, religion and values.  
Now 70,000 books go out across the country (and Canada) each month and families have an excuse to snuggle up to read together.  Marcie Simmons-Green, the executive director, hopes that the books turn special family moments into Jewish moments that teach the kids, and sometimes even adults about Jewish traditions.    Families register for the program online and are sent 11 books and a CD during the year.  The whole ball of wax is funded by Grinspoon’s Foundation in partnership with local community Jewish Centers...another example of philanthropy picking up the tab for important community programs.  
The Harold Grinspoon foundation works mostly in Western Massachusetts to fund programs that reward excellence in teaching, encourage literacy, promote entrepreneurship and help young people reach their goals.  Grinspoon was inspired by Dolly Parton’s ‘Imagination Library’, an organization that provides free books for children (0-5) in the U.S., Canada and England.  She started sending books to children in Sevier County, Tennessee to make sure they had books at home and were excited about reading.  The first book children get is The Little Engine That Could and then books keep coming, every month, until the kids head off to kindergarten (60 books per child!)  Dolly expanded the program in 2000 and now pays for kids books in Branson, MO and Myrtle Beach, SC.  She challenged business leaders from communities around the country to step up to the challenge of sending books to young children - and they do, the program now sends books to “hundreds of thousands” of children.
The hitch is that families only receive one book - with a preschoolers attention span that’ll last about 10 minutes and you don’t get to pick the book!
I’m a teacher and a mom, so I love kids and I love books.  There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t read to my bundle of joy - I still do sometimes and she is as tall as I am now - but I have to ask...why aren’t the libraries involved?  Isn’t this a great opportunity to meet the needs of families in our community?  I understand why some families might not be able to get to the library regularly (kind of) but why can’t the libraries tap into this private sector money stream and send books to kids at home to borrow?  
Librarians are specialists at connecting kids and books and reaching out to families in the community - why not bring them into the loop?