But there are negative forces. One is the fact that this excellent literature is not available to everybody. Several studies show that children of poverty have little access to books at home, in their community and at school (e.g. De Loreto and Tse, 1999; Neuman and Celano, 2001). School libraries and public libraries in wealthier areas are far better than those in low-income areas, and Worthy's research (Worthy, Moorman, and Turner, 1999) shows that libraries tend not to carry much in the areas that are really of interest to children.

California is the worst offender, with the worst and most understaffed school libraries in the country. I have documented this in my books and papers, and California librarians such as Richard Moore and Sandy Schuckett have tried very hard to inform the public about this sad situation. Unfortunately I have more statistics that tell the same story: Data released by the National Center for Library Statistics (Holton, Bae, Baldridge, Brown and Heffron, 2004) shows that only 79% of schools in California have libraries, compared to the national average of 92% (CA is last in the US), and only 24% of California schools have a library with a certified library media specialist, compared to the national average of 75% (again, CA is last in the country.) Research tells us that better libraries mean higher reading scores (see McQuillan, 1998 and studies reviewed in Krashen, 2004) and Keith Curry Lance has provided evidence confirming the positive impact of library staffing on reading achievement (Lance, 1994).

And it looks like things are going to get worse: California spends $1.53 per child on school libraries, compared to the national average of about $20 per student.

The low quality of California's public libraries has been documented (McQuillan, 1998; Krashen, 2002) and again the most recent data confirms this. According to the recent "America's Most Literate Cities" report from the University of Wisconsin (Miller, 2004), California has the worst public libraries in the country: Out of 79 cities, Los Angeles public libraries ranked 73rd, Sacramento's were 76th, Anaheim's 78th and Santa Ana's public libraries were dead last at 79th. No wonder California's reading scores are so low.

My hope, of course, is that the positive force of excellent literature is stronger than the negative forces, and that we will find a way of making these wonderful books available to more children.

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