Headstart Schools Partnership

The volunteer readers who visit Head Start classrooms quickly discover what parents and librarians have always known—reading aloud to children is still a delight!

"Studies show that 50 percent of a person’s mental capacity is in place by the age of four,” says Fredda Williams, Knox County children’s librarian. “Reading to young children expands vocabulary, increases attention span and stimulates imagination. What we now invest in our children will have long-term benefits for them and for our community.”

The Friends' investment in school readiness and early childhood literacy began in 1995, when we launched a program to assist the Head Start Schools. This program provides volunteers to read to children at local Head Start centers. The weekly sessions are held for six weeks, every fall and spring.


Read with your child-- it's the most important 20 minutes of your day!

Farragut Branch librarian Marilyn Jones sets up the reading program and trains the volunteer readers. Volunteers read from six-book sets of popular children’s books, put together from the Knox County Public Library collection. At the completion of a session, the three to five year olds who make up the listening audience receive a special gift from the Friends- a new book, chosen from the readings!

For more information on the Head Start program or to volunteer as a reader, contact FOL Headstart Committee Chair Janet Oakes, or the Friends office at 215-8775/ info@knoxfriends.org.