(41) The Crescent Book Club

Title: Fostering a love of reading and building personal libraries for children with sickle cell anemia.

Abstract : Basis of Inquiry
Due to their lifelong disease process requiring frequent hospitalizations leading to missed school days. Children with sickle cell disease frequently have diminished academic attainment and are particularly vulnerable to reading dysfunction.
Purpose/Objective
The Crescent club’s mission is to foster a love of reading and improve literacy skills by providing each member with their own personal library. Regardless of nationality, level of education, or economic status, children who grew up with books in their homes reached a higher level of education than those who did not. Having as few as twenty books in the home has a significant impact on a child’s ascent to a higher level of education and the more books in the house, the greater the benefit. We wanted to provide our patients with their own personal libraries to counteract the amount of missed school days they incur due to hospitalization.
Methods
Our sickle cell committee partnered with a locally owned bookstore that specializes in African American and Multi-Cultural Children's Books. Together, we were able to create a library of over 200 children and young adult books featuring positive images of African American culture and history written by African American Authors. Our goal is to provide each child with a minimum of six books per year featuring characters who represent them and written by African American authors.
Findings or outcomes
Since our grand opening on Martin Luther King Day of 2025, we have given out almost 50 books to our patients thus far! Patients look forward to coming to their visits and selecting a book. W