was originally reported by Nadra Nittle of .��

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, first partner of California, doesn’t mince words: “When so many things that support working families, children and older adults are being ripped away by this administration in order to help offset billionaire tax cuts, it is our duty to raise up and support these critical public resources.”

It’s a fiery critique of Washington’s priorities — one that has led her to expand the annual summer she began four years ago. The club includes a recommended list of children’s books available at nearly 900 libraries statewide and support for library programs to attract more youth. On occasion, Siebel Newsom and local authors appear at book club events, such as in June, when they dropped by the Altadena Library after the establishment revived its summer reading program following the catastrophic Eaton Fire in January. For the first time, Siebel Newsom’s book club will take place all year long, she announced recently.

Book clubs are critical interventions against “the summer slide” — the brain drain that hits kids when school’s out, causing them to lose months of academic skills and scramble to catch up come fall. Amid what experts describe as a nationwide , Siebel Newsom’s club, formed in collaboration with the California State Library, urges young people to disconnect from the internet and enter the “third space” that is the library — one where they encounter community members from all walks of life.

But there’s one problem: Libraries themselves are under siege. The this spring in a broader attack on public institutions wrapped up with efforts to purge diversity, equity and inclusion from public life.

“At a time when beloved, long-standing public institutions, like our libraries and our parks, are being outright attacked by the administration in D.C., we’re working hard in California to uplift and protect them,” Siebel Newsom said.

None of the 20 titles in Siebel Newsom’s book club has faced censorship — yet. Their themes, however, include positive girl representation, environmental leadership and youth mental health, all of which have been fodder for the culture wars that have played out in the nation’s classrooms.

There’s author Jen Wang’s “,” a book for high school students about a youth’s fight against climate change. Also on the list is JaNay Brown-Wood’s “,” about children learning that planting a garden rarely goes as planned. Aphids, anyone?

In addition to her book club and the Trump’s administration’s attacks against libraries, Siebel Newsom spoke to The 19th about how to respond when kids struggle to read, toxic internet culture and the fact that her governor husband is also a children’s book author.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.��

Nadra Nittle: Why was it important for you to launch this book club? 

Jennifer Siebel Newsom: I started the book club in 2021 to help get more kids and families reading and in our public libraries, especially over the summer. Studies show that students who participate in summer reading programs have improved educational outcomes, and in fact, early literacy is linked to success throughout life — from academics, to earning power, to mental and physical health. And now, more than ever, books offer our kids a much-needed mental health break from the often toxic online world.

This year, we’re expanding the summer book club into a year-round program to encourage kids and families to read more and visit our public libraries year round. In addition to a list of incredible reads for preschool through high school-aged kids, the book club includes investments in library programs that help get more families into libraries — volunteer projects in library gardens, digital storytelling workshops and even library lunches.

The nation’s children are reportedly experiencing a literacy crisis. How does your book club address it?

Helping connect children to great reads available for free check-out and helping get more families into our amazing libraries is a small step to help address a much larger problem around early literacy. Between 2011-2022, California had one of the largest gains in fourth-grade reading levels. However, the state has more work to do to ensure that all kids, no matter their ZIP code, have a chance to read and thrive.

This June, the governor announced the , outlining new investments to boost student reading achievement. In California, we’ve made big investments in education: after-school and summer school programs, free universal transitional kindergarten so all 4-year-olds can start school, and universal school meals, ensuring all kids get at least two meals a day — including through the Farm to School initiative, which ensures that healthier and locally sourced real foods are getting to nearly 50 percent of our schools statewide.

Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote a 2021 children’s book that draws on his experience with dyslexia, “Ben and Emma’s Big Hit.” He’s also said that two of your children have fallen behind in reading previously. Any advice for families navigating similar issues? 

Yes, absolutely: Read to your children every night and as often as you can and cultivate a love of books and stories. Also, notice if they are struggling at all and get them screened early, as early literacy is such a critical component in educational success and success throughout the span of a life. I am so proud that thanks in large part to my husband’s work and advocacy on this issue, as of this year, California is ensuring that all kindergarten, first and second grade students are annually screened in school for reading difficulties, including dyslexia.

How do the titles chosen for the book club this year stand out?

Well, for starters, librarians across California helped curate the list, and they really are experts on what books are irresistible to kids of all ages. This year’s list also centers around themes of positive role models for girls, environmental stewardship and kids’ mental health. Those issues are close to my own heart, too, as someone whose work has focused so much on women and girls empowerment, improving our climate and food supply through initiatives, and building family and children’s mental health resilience.

For example, “,” by Mariama J. Lockington, is aimed at middle schoolers and follows 13-year-old Andi’s journey as one of the few Black girls in a sea of White faces at music camp. It is just a beautiful coming-of-age story about belonging and the friendships that heal us, following the loss of loved ones early in life. It’s also a love letter to music! Another wonderful book for high schoolers struggling with the fears and frustrations of climate change is “,” which follows one teen’s attempt to right the wrongs of climate destruction by building a secret cabin in the wilderness of California.

How have federal cuts affected funding for California’s libraries, and what has the state done in response?

Sadly, we live in a time when public resources we all used to agree on — our libraries, our beautiful state parks — are under attack from the administration in D.C. California’s federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant for library funding was Through legal challenges, however, some — though not all — of the funding has been restored. California is helping to protect our libraries and parks in our budget, including by helping make these public treasures more accessible to all.

The books on your club’s list haven’t faced censorship, though some in recent years. How has Gov. Newsom addressed these efforts?

I think we can look at history and see that civilizations and governments that banned books were never headed in the right direction. If anything, now more than ever, we need more access to books and more educational freedom. And children, in particular, need to see the world in all of its colors and learn tolerance and how different perspectives and kinds of people make up a shared common humanity.

In California, the governor in 2023 that prevents “book bans” in schools, censorship of instructional materials and strengthens California law requiring schools to provide all students access to textbooks that teach about California’s diverse communities.

You mentioned books offering a “mental health break” from the toxic internet. I recently wrote about the . Do you have any thoughts about this?

So many thoughts! It is a continuing focus for my film work. [Siebel Newsom is a documentary filmmaker.] And looking back on my own childhood, diving into books and the comfort of our public library almost certainly served as “alternative programming” for a girl coming of age in the largely sexist media culture of the time. The misogynistic pre-internet culture I was trying to escape from as a kid seems almost quaint compared to what kids face today. But this is why I think that the act of reading — and access to libraries — may be even more critical for young people today than it has ever been.

Books spur a lifelong curiosity about others and the world and systems one is born into. They can offer a different perspective and show one the strength of the human spirit to rise above and carve out one’s own unique voice. The books I read as a kid created a lifelong love of the transformative power of storytelling, which has fueled me throughout my career in filmmaking and advocacy.

What was your favorite childhood book, and do you think it would still resonate with kids today?

“The Little House” series was the earliest one that had an outsized impact on me, especially with the stories so grounded in a young girl’s perspective. I do think they are still wonderful and relevant and know that today they are taught with historical context and to encourage critical thinking too, so that kids can understand the full picture of that moment in our history.

This story was originally published on The 19th.

As states rush to address falling literacy scores, a new kind of education debate in state legislatures is taking hold: not whether reading instruction needs fixing, but how to fix it.

More than a dozen states have enacted laws banning public school educators from teaching youngsters to read using an approach that’s been popular for decades. The method, known as “three-cueing,” encourages kids to figure out unfamiliar words using context clues such as meaning, sentence structure and visual hints.

In the past two years, several states have instead embraced instruction rooted in what’s known as the “science of reading.” That approach leans heavily on phonics — relying on letter and rhyming sounds to read words such as cat, hat and rat.

The policy discussions on early literacy are unfolding against a backdrop of alarming national reading proficiency levels. The 2024 that 40% of fourth graders and 33% of eighth graders scored below the basic reading level — the highest percentages in decades.

No state improved in fourth- or eighth-grade reading in 2024. Eight states — Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah and Vermont — than they did a year or two prior in eighth-grade reading.

Five — Arizona, Florida, Nebraska, South Dakota and Vermont — saw dips in their fourth-grade reading scores.

In response to these troubling trends, a growing number of states are moving beyond localized efforts and tackling literacy through statewide legislation.

last year mandated universal K-3 literacy screenings. lawmakers this month passed a bill that would allow some students to retake required reading tests before being held back in third grade; that bill is en route to the governor’s desk.

and are weighing statewide literacy coaching and training models, while lawmakers in introduced a bill to allow literacy interventions to cover broader reading and academic skills, not just early reading basics.

Mississippi, a state seen as a model for turnaround in literacy rates over the past decade, evidence-based reading interventions, mandatory literacy screenings and targeted teacher training, and to explicitly ban the use of three-cueing methods in reading instruction in grades 4-8.

Together, these efforts signal a national shift: States are treating literacy not as a local initiative, but as the foundation of public education policy.

“Literacy is the lever,” said Tafshier Cosby, the senior director of the Center for Organizing and Partnerships at the National Parents Union, an advocacy group. “If states focus on that, we see bipartisan wins. But the challenge is making that a statewide priority, not just a district-by-district hope.”

‘It’s the system that needs fixing’

Before he was even sworn in, first-term Georgia Democratic state Sen. RaShaun Kemp, a former teacher and principal, had already drafted a bill to end the use of the three-cueing system in Georgia classrooms.

This month, the  focused on the science of reading passed the state legislature without a single “no” vote. GOP Gov. Brian Kemp  a similar  into law Monday to outlaw three-cueing.

Sen. Kemp said his passion for literacy reform stretches back decades, shaped by experiences tutoring children at a local church as a college student in the early 2000s. It was there, he said, that he began noticing patterns in how students struggled with foundational reading.

“In my experience, I saw kids struggle to identify the word they were reading. I saw how some kids were guessing what the word was instead of decoding,” Kemp recalled. “And it’s not technology or screens that’s the problem. It’s what teachers are being instructed on how to teach reading. It’s the system that needs fixing, not the teachers.”

Sen. Kemp’s bill requires the Professional Standards Commission — a state agency that — to adopt rules mandating evidence-based reading instruction aligned with the science of reading, a set of practices rooted in decades of cognitive research on how children best learn to read.

“Current strategies used to teach literacy include methods that teach students to guess rather than read, preventing them from reaching their full potential,” Sen. Kemp said in a public statement following the bill’s legislative passage. “I know we can be better, and I’m proud to see our legislative body take much-needed steps to help make Georgia the number one state for literacy.”

In West Virginia, lawmakers have introduced similar bills that would require the state’s teachers to be certified in .

Cosby, of the National Parents Union, said local policy changes can be driven by parents even before legislatures act.

“All politics are local,” Cosby said. “Parents don’t need to wait for statewide mandates — they can ask school boards for universal screeners and structured literacy now.”

Still, some parents worry their states are simply funding more studies on early literacy rather than taking direct action to address it.

A Portland, Oregon, parent of three — one of whom has dyslexia — sent written testimony this year urging lawmakers to skip further studies and immediately implement structured literacy statewide.

“We do not need another study to tell us what we already know — structured literacy is the most effective way to teach all children to read, particularly those with dyslexia and other reading challenges,” Katherine Hoffman.

Opposition to ‘science of reading’

Unlike in Georgia, the “science of reading” has met resistance in other states.

In California, that would require phonics-based reading instruction statewide has faced opposition from English learner advocates who argue that a one-size-fits-all approach may not effectively serve multilingual students.

In opposition to the bill, the California Teachers Association argued that by codifying a rigid definition of the “science of reading,” lawmakers ignore the evolving nature of reading research and undermine teachers’ ability to meet the diverse needs of their students.

“Placing a definition for ‘science of reading’ in statute is problematic,” wrote Seth Bramble, a legislative advocate for the California Teachers Association in a addressed to the state’s Assembly Education Committee. “This bill would carve into stone scientific knowledge that by its very nature is constantly being tested, validated, refuted, revised, and improved.”

Similarly, in Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in March vetoed a bill that would have reversed changes to the state’s scoring system to align the state’s benchmarks with the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a federal assessment tool that has with funding cuts and layoffs under the Trump administration. Evers said in his veto that Republican lawmakers were stepping on the state superintendent’s independence.

That veto is another step in the evolution of a broader constitutional fight over literacy policy and how literacy funds are appropriated and released. In 2023, Wisconsin lawmakers $50 million for a new statewide literacy initiative, but disagreements over legislative versus executive control have stalled its disbursement.

Indiana’s legislature faced criticism from educators over a 2024 requiring 80 hours of literacy training for pre-K to sixth-grade teachers before they can renew their licenses. Teachers argued that the additional requirements were burdensome and did not account for their professional expertise.

In Illinois, literacy struggles have been building for more than a decade, according to Mailee Smith, senior director of policy at the Illinois Policy Institute. Today, only 3 in 10 Illinois third- and fourth-graders can , based on state and national assessments.

Although Illinois lawmakers the school code in 2023 to create a state literacy plan, Smith noted the plan is only guidance and does not require districts to adopt evidence-based reading instruction. She urged local school boards to act on their own.

“If students can’t read by third grade, half of fourth-grade curriculum becomes incomprehensible,” she said. “A student’s likelihood to graduate high school can be predicted by their reading skill at the end of third grade.”

Despite the challenges, Smith said even small steps can make a real difference.

“Screening, intervention, parental notice, science-based instruction and thoughtful grade promotion — those are the five pillars, and Illinois and even local school districts can implement some of these steps right away,” she said.

“It doesn’t have to be daunting.”

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

was founded by Keyon Watkins in 2020. The club originally consisted of Watkins and about 15 of his friends meeting on Facetime or Zoom to discuss books like The Art of War and The Four Agreements. But when tragedy struck his family on Mother’s Day two years later, Watkins knew he wanted to do more.

On May 8, 2022, Watkins’s brother Damon Hawkins was fatally shot in a parking lot.

“My older brother was very intelligent,” Watkins said. “However, he couldn’t read. When you can’t read, you have limited options in life. What could the trajectory of his life have been if he knew how to read?”

Because his brother couldn’t read, he didn’t graduate from high school. Watkins, his mother and his niece helped Hawkins fill out job applications, but Hawkins’s lack of literacy, Watkins said, limited his options for jobs, as well as housing. Watkins described the area where his brother lived as “terrible.” He was killed by one of his neighbors. 

Watkins said his brother’s death motivated him to against gun violence and expand Black Men Read to become a nonprofit that could help young children improve their literacy.

St. Louis has struggled for years to raise reading proficiency for its students. As of 2021, only of K-12 Black public school students in the city were proficient readers, in comparison to 55% of white students. 

shows that third graders who aren’t proficient in reading by the end of the school year are four times less likely to graduate from high school than students who are. In 2021, only Black third graders in St. Louis public schools scored as proficient or advanced in English Language Arts.

Missouri passed a law in 2022 to require schools to focus on science of reading strategies to improve literacy. But Watkins and other community members aren’t waiting.

In 2022, his organization worked with Head Start programs to read to preschoolers. Soon after volunteering with Head Start, he and eight members of the group began reaching out to members of the community who might be interested in tutoring older students.The organization volunteered twice a week at Barack Obama Elementary School for the second half of the 2023-24 school year. Its members worked with 15 students in first to fifth grade after school and hope to expand to more schools in the Normandy School District soon.

Tutors are required to pass a background screening and undergo training. They worked with Webster University to receive proper tutoring training and used techniques from the , which teaches linguistic and reading comprehension, to guide their lessons. Watkins hopes to offer this training for parents in the future so they can implement these methods at home.

The organization also made a concerted effort to maintain enthusiasm around reading throughout the summer. In June, Black Men Read launched a summer reading program at the First Baptist Church of Meacham Park’s education center. It is hosting about 30 kids on Wednesdays and Thursdays for about 3½ hours. The program began with individual testing to assess each student’s reading level and includes one-on-one tutoring throughout the day.

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“We focus on phonics and sight words. We also have flashcards that will have a story with no words, just pictures so they can visually arrange what happens, first, second and third, to help with reading comprehension. We try to make it fun. We have sight word bingo and crossword puzzles to keep them engaged,” Watkins said.

The summer program includes other activities like slime making and guided workouts from a physical trainer. Black Men Read also partnered with another local organization called to provide each child with a book to take home.

With the school year approaching, two of the biggest challenges Watkins and his team are facing are finding enough volunteer tutors and financial assistance. He said the community has been supportive, but he is hoping to obtain grants soon.

, which works to “highlight the racist educational status quo,” according to its Instagram page, helps bolster Black Men Read’s literacy efforts while holding the local school board accountable for what it believes are low expectations for Black students. 

“We know that poverty and all these things affect learning, and we have to do what we can to address it, but we also have to start with the belief that despite our kids’ challenges, they can succeed,” said coalition founder Chester Asher. “But the longer we persist in this sense of pity that all these poor children can’t do anything because of their struggle, we just enable and feed a cycle of poverty.”

Black Men Read and Coalition with STL Kids have partnered to recruit 100 new tutors. On Aug. 16, they will hold a training session for new tutors focused on the science of reading and the five pillars of literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.