A Heart for Reading

Exploring outer space. Journeying on a boat to a faraway island. Learning new facts about your favorite animal. Books have the unique ability to transform, to take readers on new adventures, to entertain and to teach new things.

Research has shown promoting a culture of early literacy has a powerful effect on families and children that improves their home environment, their language skills and parent-child relationships during the crucial time of early brain development.

Thanks to a multi-disciplinary approach across the hospital, Le Bonheur Children’s serves as a national leader in literacy, distributing more than 10,000 free books annually to patients and families.

Clinical Director of UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists (ULPS) General Pediatrics and Division Chief of Outpatient Pediatrics Jason Yaun, MD, reads to his patient, Dakari Haymore, at a Le Bonheur clinic visit. 

Reach Out and Read

One channel for free book distribution is Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and The University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s participation in a local Reach Out and Read program, which gives young children a foundation for success by incorporating books into pediatric care settings and encouraging families to read aloud together. Reach Out and Read’s evidence-based program builds on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers to develop critical early reading skills in children, beginning in infancy.

When Clinical Director of UT Le Bonheur Pediatric Specialists (ULPS) General Pediatrics and Division Chief of Outpatient Pediatrics Jason Yaun, MD, was presented with the opportunity more than 10 years ago to marry his two passions of reading and medicine, he jumped at the chance. In January 2014, Yaun was serving as University of Tennessee Health Science Center chief resident and caring for patients at Le Bonheur when he established the Reach Out and Read program in Le Bonheur’s general pediatrics clinic.

“Literacy was so important in my childhood and in my journey to becoming a physician,” Yaun said. “I saw my parents reading daily, and I was a very voracious reader as a kid — I’d get in trouble for reading at night when I should be sleeping. When I was a resident, I learned more about the scientific research behind reading and its benefits. With the cost of health care, giving a kid a book is a low-cost endeavor that can have a huge impact on children and their overall health and well-being.”

As part of the Reach Out and Read program, doctors gift free books to children at well-child visits from birth to age 5, with more than 3,500 books distributed annually through the program at Le Bonheur. According to Yaun, the program capitalizes on a few important parts of pediatrics: language, academics and thinking holistically about children and families.

Literacy was so important in my childhood and in my journey to becoming a physician. I saw my parents reading daily and I was a very voracious reader as a kid — I’d get in trouble for reading at night when I should be sleeping. When I was a resident, I learned more about the scientific research behind reading and its benefits. With the cost of health care, giving a kid a book is a low-cost endeavor that can have a huge impact on children.

“Data shows more books in the home and increased reading time lead to improvements in vocabulary and readiness for kindergarten,” Yaun said. “There are also benefits from a social and emotional standpoint as books are a fun shared activity with a caregiver.”

Many of the children who come to Le Bonheur do not have access to books of their own and receiving a free book is exciting and fun.

Distributing books in clinic is not just beneficial for patients and their families, but also provides emotional and social benefits for physicians. 

“As doctors, we love being able to distribute books and have a fun moment in the patient visit,” Yaun said. “Studies show that doing so helps prevent physician burnout and gives us a tool to engage with the patient. When doctors encourage literacy, children often read more as we are seen as a trusted source.”

Books as a Care Tool

Books are also an important tool utilized by Child Life specialists across the hospital to help support a patient’s development, navigate a diagnosis or normalize the hospital environment.

“Child Life specialists have access to books that are focused on different medical diagnoses, procedures and situations that children and families are facing,” said Le Bonheur Director of Child Life Jessica Liles. “Many children learn through stories, so having access to developmentally appropriate resources that explain medical diagnoses or procedures is important.  We also have books that talk about what children might be processing emotionally, in relation to the medical care of themselves or someone they love.”

Volunteers Deliver Books

In addition to receiving a free book at a Le Bonheur clinic visit, patients and families can also access books from the volunteer-led book cart called “Roll Out and Read.” Several times per week, volunteers lovingly stock the cart with brand-new books — with reading levels spanning from infant to 12th grade — and wheel the cart to rooms throughout the hospital.

From January to September 2024, more than 2,700 free books were distributed to kids at Le Bonheur via the book cart.

“Patients are so excited to select a free book from our book cart,” Le Bonheur Volunteer Coordinator Hannah Rafieetary said. “Reading can help soothe our infant and toddler patients by providing a calm voice and positive stimulation; for older patients, reading can help transport them to different worlds and provide a welcome distraction from what they are experiencing, whether it be a new diagnosis, being in a scary, unfamiliar environment, or waiting for an appointment.”

Volunteers not only read to patients and distribute books, but also assist families in signing up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which sends kids a free book to their home each month from birth to age five. 

Le Bonheur Volunteer Chloe Coughlan helps Zhamiya Martin, a patient, select a book from the Roll Out and Read book cart.

As the culture of literacy has grown at Le Bonheur, so have book distribution opportunities. Children at regional clinics in Jackson, Tenn., and Tupelo, Miss., also receive books at their visits. Free books are available to patients and their families in the Emergency Department waiting room in a vending machine provided by Literacy Mid-South.

New last year, Family Resource Center coordinator Erin Lasley hosts a story time with a new book read each week. The session incorporates music therapy, and patients or siblings who attend the story time are able to keep a book by the same author.

Book giveaways also take place at Le Bonheur around the holidays, Halloween and to celebrate Literacy Day. Le Bonheur’s Literacy Committee hopes to find even more opportunities to distribute books in the future and continue to cultivate a love of reading across the hospital. 

Help patients and their families thrive by donating to Le Bonheur's Literacy Fund today!

Candace Hammond was seeking a way to honor the memory of her daughter, Lynnleigh Claire Hammond, who was a patient at Le Bonheur, while helping other children and their families who spend time at the hospital. As an elementary school teacher for 17 years, Hammond understands the value of literacy and had started planning a special family library for Lynnleigh before she was born. “There is a magic in books and in the ability to read and write. Literacy helps people, not just children, grow in so many ways,” Hammond said. “Just because a child is a patient at Le Bonheur, it doesn’t mean small things — like reading — can’t be done to bring a sense of normalcy to a family’s life.” With that in mind, Candace and her husband, Austin, found the perfect way to honor Lynnleigh and made a generous gift to Le Bonheur’s Literacy Fund. “We feel that by helping with Le Bonheur’s literacy program, we are allowing patients and their families to escape the walls of the hospital and to have adventures when physically they might not be able to do so.”

Donate today by clicking here.