One Word Philosophy

We know the literature and advice on the science of reading and improving literacy is voluminous, daunting and sometimes conflicting. But improving literacy doesn’t have to involve 10,000 different books, hours of monotonous word study, or millions of words. 

 

Developing lifelong readers can begin simply. It can start with examining a single word in a good story. That’s why we chose quality books that reflect the broad range of human experience and have at their core good storytelling, engaging characters, substantive themes, interesting or poetic language, and for picture books, exquisite illustrations. 

 

And that’s why we include in our starter kits a reading guide printed on a book-mark with three simple “one-word” questions that families can explore in a just a few minutes together. Questions such as:

 

·      What ONE WORD did you learn while reading? 

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·     If you could change ONE WORD which would it be?

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·     What ONE WORD changed the story for you?

When children have books in their homes, they read more. They turn to favorite books again and again. They become better and more fluent readers.

 

And research shows that books in the home help go a long way to helping children close the educational achievement gap, regardless of socioeconomic status. Regular reading also helps children develop empathy, compassion and kindness.

 

Economically vulnerable families face significant barriers accessing good books. Books are expensive. And libraries are not always accessible or easy to reach.   

 

One Word addresses some of these barriers by providing vulnerable children with high-quality books and resources in their homes or wherever they may be living.

Learning to read does not need to be boring or feel like a chore to children. 

 

We think good stories can inspire children to read. And for that reason, we don’t choose just any books for children. Instead, we carefully select quality, award-winning children’s books or books we know are popular with children. We provide books that have received the Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Award, Pura Belpré Award or other children's book awards. Some books we select are children’s classics; some are new releases; and some are fan favorites.

 

What our books have in common is that they are well-written, reflect the broad range of human experience, and have at their core good storytelling, engaging characters, substantive themes, unique or poetic language, and for picture books, exquisite illustrations.  We hope you agree!