Reading to a classroom of wide-eyed, eager preschool children is a weekly occurrence for Angela Sears Spittal. As the book unfolds, the preschoolers tell stories, sing songs, laugh and give high-fives. Each page is filled with colorful drawings that further enhance their imaginative worlds. Spittal, executive director of Ready Readers, said she loves her time spent reading out loud to the children; it’s her favorite part of the job. According to Spittal, that’s what Ready Readers is all about: creating happiness and forming connections.

Ready Readers is a nonprofit organization working to enhance the literacy of children in the St. Louis region. They do this in a number of ways: reading stories aloud, providing professional development for teachers and supplying books to children and schools. 

“We serve schools where 70% or more of the families receive free and reduced lunch benefits,” Spittal said. “We generally serve lower-income communities.”

As a result of COVID-19, Ready Readers can no longer visit classrooms for story time. Instead, the organization developed alternative programs for person-to-person connection and education, such as virtual reading, and giving children and teachers books as well as extracurricular activities. Another program is the Pen Pal program, in which volunteers write letters to children in the classroom to pose questions and provoke discussion.

“[The Pen Pal program] is a very different approach to early literacy than we’ve ever done before,” Sheila Oliveri, the early childhood literacy and curriculum coordinator, said. “Before, it was all about reading stories and conversing. [This program] is much more focused on the alphabet [and] letter recognition.”

While some think Ready Readers simply reads books to children for enjoyment, Oliveri explained their mission is more complex, emphasizing how deliberate the organization is. She believes every minute the volunteers spend working for Ready Readers is time they are spending investing in the future of the community through children. 

“It’s a very deeply thought out and multilayered approach to educating and informing about social [and] emotional learning,” Oliveri said. “Engaging the children in conversation about what happened in the story [is most important]. We [also] establish relationships between children and teachers that help them enjoy the learning process, thereby preparing them to become successful learners, successful people in society in every stage of their development. And we use books as the vehicle to get those conversations started.” 

Spittal emphasizes that preschoolers benefit greatly from relationships Ready Readers helps form. To the organization, building connections is a fundamental part of their mission. 

“Any time a child has a loving, caring adult investing [in them], that’s a beautiful thing,” Spittal said.