Prime Time Family Reading Time
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities

A mother and son in Arkansas share a PRIME TIME selection.

Photo: Lorna Michelle Ferchalk

Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities describes the goals of PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME this way: "We have two goals. One is to change attitudes toward reading. Many of our families have seen books only in school-for the most part shabby textbooks or stories that no one who is really smart would like to read anyway. We want to show them the really good books...that are beautifully written and illustrated. Second, we want to change behavior. We want to get people who are not normally library users to get cards and feel comfortable to go back." Louisiana PRIME TIME FAMILY READING TIME has more than met its goals if the number of libraries across the nation seeking to replicate this nine-year-old program are any indication.

At each hour-long reading session held at libraries, community centers, and churches once a week for six to eight consecutive weeks, parents are assigned three or four thematically grouped stories from children's literature and folklore to read aloud at home with their children. At the next session, the assigned stories are re-read for the participating families by local storytellers and dramatists. Children are invited to act out the story. The group then spends 40 or so minutes dissecting the stories with the help of scholars and discussion leaders. Sometimes, families write a sequel to the books they read. "Part book club, part storytelling hour, and part English course...without the exams" is how one observer describes the approach.

And PRIME TIME is having an impact: 100 percent of PRIME TIME families have library cards by the end of the programs and many libraries report a significant increase in the circulation of children's books. More than 100 sites in Arkansas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Texas have completed programs since the program was piloted at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library in 1991, and sites are now being developed in as many as 28 states in partnership with the American Library Association, with National Endowment for the Humanities support.