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United Way of King County knows that children who enter kindergarten eager to learn are more likely to succeed in school and, later, in life. To help kids have fun reading and become lifelong learners, we have developed a Volunteer Reading Program and are currently recruiting volunteers.

Once a week, volunteers visit preschools, Head Start classrooms, and child care centers throughout King County to read to kids one-on-one and in small groups. Reading aloud with children not only builds language and literacy skills, it exposes them to new ideas and builds their social and emotional skills, among other benefits.

The volunteers read from a library of books donated by United Way of King County and selected by child development experts. The library includes some great children's favorites:

• Abuela; by Dorros, Arthur
  An adventure about a little girl and her abuela (grandmother). Includes some Spanish words and phrases.
• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No Good Very Bad Day; Viorst, Judith
  A humorous look at a child's moodiness.
• Amazing Grace; Hoffman, Mary
  About a girl with a strong spirit who is inspired by her family's support to shine during an audition for a play.
• Behold the Umbrellaphant and Other Poems; Prelutsky, Jack
  Filled with fun poems about part animals, part inanimate objects.
• Bein' With You This Way; Nikola-Lisa, W.
  A playground rap that introduces young readers to how people are different and yet the same.
• The Bossy Gallito: A Traditional Cuban Folktale; Gonzalez, Lucia M.
  A Cuban folktale, in both Spanish and English, about a rooster on his way to a wedding.
• Butterflies for Kiri; Falwell, Cathryn
  A Japanese American girl learns to master the art of making an origami butterfly, as well as perserverance.
• Buzz; Wong, Janet
  About a busy, buzzy bee and early morning activity, seen from the perspective of a small boy.
• A Chair for My Mother/Un Sillon Para Mi Mama; Williams, Vera
  A young girl tells how she, her mother, and her grandmother work together to save for an easy chair, after their possessions were destroyed in a fire.
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom; Martin Jr., Bill
  A rhyming tale starring the letters of the alphabet.
• Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type; Cronin, Doreen
  A funny picture book about cows that discover a typewriter, which leads to barnyard animals uniting to improve their working conditions.
• David's Drawings; Falwell, Cathryn
  A story about a shy African American boy who makes friends by letting his classmates help with his drawing of a winter tree.
• Dizzy; Winter, Jonah
  Tells the story of jazz great Dizzy Gillespie, from his humble beginnings to becoming a legend.
• Eating the Alphabet; Ehlert, Lois
  Appealing exposure to food and letters.
• Elizabeti's Doll; Stuve-Bodeen, Stephanie
  A young Tanzanian girl finds a special doll, which she realizes how much she loves when she almost loses her.
• Exactly the Opposite; Hoban, Tana
  An exploration of opposites through colorful, detailed photos.
• Firefighters A to Z; Demarest, Chris L.
  A large-format picture book about fire fighters, arranged alphabetically.
• Food for Thought; Elffers, Joost & Freymann, Saxton
  Teaches concepts including shapes, colors, numbers and letters through clever pictures of vegetables and fruit, such as smiling oranges and bananas that look like giraffes.
• Freight Train/Tren de Cargo; Crews, Donald
  A simple Spanish translation of Crews's 1979 Caldecott Honor Book that introduces trains, colors, and the concept of fast and slow.
• The Gardener; Stewart, Sarah
  Teaches about the impact an individual can make through the story of a girl who brightens her uncle's dreary bakery.
• George and Martha; Marshall, James
  Reveals the ups and downs of true friendship, teaching important lessons about issues like privacy and unintended results.
• Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message
  A traditional Iroquois celebration of the beauty and spirit of Mother Earth, as told by a contemporary Mohawk chief.
• Goin' Someplace Special; McKissack, Patricia
  A bittersweet look at the indignities of Jim Crow laws, where the public library provides "a doorway to freedom."
• Goodnight, Gorilla; Rathmann, Peggy
  A story of a zookeeper and the animals he cares for, told through pictures.
• Goodnight Moon; Brown, Margaret Wise
  A sweet, short poem of a young rabbit saying goodnight to his world.
• Gossie; Olivier, Dunrea
  An unassuming tale of gosling companions and their boots.
• Grandfather Counts; Cheng, Andrea
  A story of a biracial girl and her Chinese grandfather who bond in spite of language differences.
• Grandfather's Journey; Say, Allen
  A story about immigration and acculturation, revealed through old pictures and family tales.
• Harold and the Purple Crayon; Johnson, Crockett
  An imaginative story about a boy and his imagination.
• Harry the Dirty Dog; Zion, Gene
  About a dog who doesn't like baths, until he gets really dirty.
• He's Got the Whole World in His Hands; Nelson, Kadir
  An interpretation of spirituality, with pictures that show a boy from a multi-ethnic family, zooming out to pictures of other people and homes, then a view of the earth from a shuttle, with the moon and stars beyond.
• Horton Hatches the Egg; Seuss, Dr.
  A Dr. Seuss classic about an elephant who is persuaded to sit on an egg while its mother takes a break.
• How a Seed Grows; Jordan, Helene
  Leads young readers through a series of steps that illustrate how seeds grow. The main character is an African-American girl who is confidently in charge.
• Hush! A Thai Lullaby; Ho, Minfong
  Rhythmic text about a mother trying to quiet a variety of animals so that her baby might sleep.
• I Had a Hippopotamus; Lee, Hector Viveros
  A box of animal crackers inspires a Mexican American boy to imagine what he would do with such creatures.
• I Stink!; McMullen, Kate & Jim
  A comical look at a New York City garbage truck.
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie; Numeroff, Laura J.
  A kid's favorite about a small mouse who wears out an energetic young boy.
• If You Were a Parrot; Rawson, Katherine
  A fanciful story that has four multi-cultural children imagining what life would be like as a pet parrot. Includes facts about parrots, tips for how to take care of them, and a craft idea to supplement learning.
• In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall; Steptoe, Javaka, illus.
  An intergenerational collection of poetry by African American writers, where fatherhood is celebrated.
• Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse; Henkes, Kevin
  An irrepressible mouse learns a lesson about making a mistake and making things right again.
• Little Pea; Rosenthal, Amy Krouse
  An ink-and-watercolor story about picky eaters, featuring happy Little Pea, who is tired of eating candy every night for dinner.
• The Little Red Hen: An Old Story; Zemach, Margot
  This little red hen is a hard-working single mother who teachers readers about the importance of helping others, and sharing, too.
• Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China; Young, Ed
  A twist on the Red Riding Hood story, featuring three daughters who are left at home when their mother goes to visit their grandmother.
• Love to Mama: A Tribute to Mothers; Mora, Pat, ed.
  Thirteen Latino poets celebrate their bonds with their mothers and grandmothers.
• Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile; Waber, Bernard
  A fun adventure with Lyle the crocodile, who lives in a house on East 88th Street in New York City.
• Mabela the Clever; MacDonald, Margaret Read
  A survival story about a clever mouse who saves her friends from a clever cat. The story is prefaced with background information about the oral tradition in Limba culture and suggests an original song and a game to encourage creative interaction.
• Machines At Work; Barton, Byron
  A day in the life of a multiracial group of men and women at a construction site.
• Madeline; Bemelmans, Luwig
  A spirited story (one of many) about a small, spunky French girl who is brave in the face of adversity and adored by her peers.
• Make Way for Ducklings; McCloskey, Robert
  A mother duck helps her ducklings brave the busy Boston streets.
• Manners; Aliki
  Presented in a seemingly random and fun way, this book addresses an important topice-good manners.
• Martha Speaks; Meddaugh, Susan
  Tells the story of a dog who eats alphabet soup, which results in the letters going to her brain, causing her to make embarrassing comments about strangers.
• Millions of Cats; Gag, Wanda
  A lonely, old couple is left with a scrawny little kitten who grows into the most beautiful cat in the world.
• Miss Nelson is Missing!; Allard, Harry & James Marshall
  A tale of kids who take advantage of their teacher's good nature until she disappears, leaving them with a loathsome substitute.
• Mr. Gumpy's Outing; Birmingham, John
  When Mr. Gumpy decides to go for an outing in is his boat, too many children and animals want to accompany him.
• Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale; Steptoe, John
  Two beautiful daughters-one mean, the other sweet-go before the king, who is choosing a wife.
• The Napping House; Wood, Audrey
  A cumulative tale of a flea that causes commotion among sleeping creatures.
• No, David!; Shannon, David
  A semi-autobiographical story of a child who breaks his mother's rules.
• Old Black Fly; Aylesworth, Jim
  Rhyming text and illustrations follow a mischievous fly through the alphabet.
• Pierre: A Cautionary Tale; Sendak, Maurice
  A moral tale about Pierre who learns to care.
• The Pot That Juan Built; Andrews-Boebel, Nancy
  Following the style of "The House That Jack Built," this is the story of Juan Quezada, the premier potter in Mexico.
• Rainbow Joe and Me; Strom, Maria Diaz
  A girl learns the power of imagination from her blind neighbor.
• The Random House Book of Mother Goose: A Treasury of 386 Timeless Nursery Rhymes; Lobel, Arnold
  An illustrated collection of classic Mother Goose nursery rhymes.
• Richard Wright and the Library Card; Mathis, Sharon Bell
  The true story of the renowned African American author Richard Wright and his determination to borrow books from the public library.
• Sam and the Lucky Money; Chinn, Karen
  During Chinese New Year, a young boy encounters a homeless person and discovers that no gift is too small when it comes from the heart.
• Sleep is for Everyone; Showers, Paul
  A cartoon overview of sleep, including the sleeping positions of several animals and the different amounts of sleep required by humans of various ages.
• The Snowy Day; Keats, Ezra Jack
  A sparse collage of illustrations that show the wonder of a wintery, snowy day from a small boy's perspective.
• The Story of Ferdinand; Leaf, Munro
  A black-and-white story about a peaceful bull who loves to sit and smell flowers.
• The Stray Dog; Marc, Simont
  A heartwarming story of a picnicking family charmed by a stray dog.
• Strega Nona; De Paola, Tomie
  Strega Nona (Italian for "Grandma Witch") warns foolish Big Anthony never to touch her pasta pot. When he does, there are consequences.
• Summer Sun Risin'; Nikola-Lisa, W.
  An account of a young African American boy spending a summer day helping his family on their farm.
• Sylvester and the Magic Pebble; Steig, William
  A family is reunited by Sylvester the donkey wishing he were himself again.
• Ten Little Fish; Wood, Audrey
  Rhyming text helps young readers go from one to 10 and back again by following little fish as they swim along a beautiful ocean reef.
• Ten, Nine, Eight; Bang, Molly
  A picture book about the love binding a father and his little "big" girl who turns bedtime into playtime with a rhyming game.
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly; Taback, Simms
  An inventive book that shows what's inside the old lady's stomach as she swallows a fly, bird, etc.
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf; Scieszka, John
  The "real" story of the three little pigs, told from the misunderstood wolf's perspective.
• Under the Lemon Moon; Fine, Edith Hope
  A girl in Mexico learns about generosity and forgiveness when she discovers someone has stolen lemons from her tree.
• The Wheels on the Bus; Zelinsky, Paul O.
  A visual version of a much-loved children's song.
• Where's Spot?; Hill, Eric
  About a mother dog looking for her lost puppies.
• Whistle for Willie; Keats, Ezra Jack
  A colorful story of a boy who longs to whistle for his dog, first published in 1964.
• Yoko; Wells, Rosemary
  Through Yoko the kitten, children learn about teasing at school, being different and trying new foods.
• Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin; Moss, Lloyd
  Jazzy verse about orchestra instruments that can be used to teach about similarities and differences and counting.
• Zomo the Rabbit: A Trickster Tale from South Africa; McDermott, Gerald
  The story of Zomo the trickster rabbit, who originated in Nigeria.

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