The study took place in my third grade classroom in a Title 1 elementary school in a mid-sized city in the southeastern United States. This urban school serves children who live in public housing developments and homeless shelters and enrolls an equal number of African American and Caucasian children. The school receives state and federal funding (85 percent of children qualify
for free or reduced lunch). The majority of the parents have an education level of high school or below. An informal survey inventorying books in the children’s homes revealed that few if any books were available for children.