Research and evidence-base

At Book Dash our work is big and bold – and it’s supported by a significant body of evidence.

Research shows that owning books from a young age can change the trajectory of a child’s life. When children own books, it enables and increases book sharing and responsive parenting, which boost early developmental outcomes.

As they move through life, children with books at home perform better across school subjects, complete more years of schooling, and access better jobs in adulthood.

Books make the biggest difference in the most disadvantaged households. Each additional book can lead to greater benefit – especially in homes with just a few books to start, like in South Africa. Ultimately, increasing the number of books in homes is a powerful and cost-effective opportunity to reduce inequality and promote economic development.

Our publication, Books in Children’s Hands and Homes: an Evidence-Based Literacy Intervention, pulls together the leading research on early book ownership: how it impacts a child’s development, and what opportunities this offers to address current social, educational and economic challenges in concrete, effective ways.

The Yizani Sifunde project was designed to improve preschool children’s early literacy skills. It combined abundant book ownership (Book Dash) with a classroom-based early literacy programme (Wordworks), modelling and support, and community activations (Nal’ibali). The project was implemented in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, in highly under-resourced contexts.

The 8-month intervention was highly effective at boosting early learning outcomes. An external evaluation found that: 

1. Books predicted outcomes: Children with more books at home had better early learning skills, executive functioning and early numeracy.
2. At-risk children improved most: Children who were “falling far behind” at the start of the project gained an additional 9 to 13 months of learning.
3. Children’s skills improved in domains the project did not explicitly target, including fine motor skills, executive functioning and numeracy.

Internal project monitoring data found that:

1. Books prompted shared reading: After receiving books, parents read with children more often, whether or not they attended parent workshops.

Books extended the project’s reach: 78% of children who received books shared them with siblings or neighbours.