Texas reading program allows children to hear the voice of their incarcerated mother
KERA | By LuLu Garnett | The Dallas Morning News
Published October 15, 2024 at 5:00 AM CDT
Many children have a fond memory of their mom reading them a book before bed, flipping through the pages and pausing to explore pictures. Children with incarcerated parents, however, may miss out on this comforting experience.
“If you think about the library story time, or someone reading to you in school, or even just a mom sitting down with her children in the evening to read a book, it’s a comfortable and joyful experience,” Jill Gonzalez, executive director of Women’s Storybook Project, said.
The Women’s Storybook Project connects incarcerated moms with their children through storytelling. The Austin-based program sends volunteers to prisons across Texas, where they record incarcerated mothers reading a book aloud and then send the recording, along with a copy of the book, to the child. Last year, the program served over 400 mothers and sent out 6,200 books to almost 900 children.
“I’m a firm believer that you can teach anything through a children’s book,” Gonzalez said. “There’s so many messages of friendship and hope and humor.”
Judith Dullnig, who was inspired by a similar prison program in Illinois, started the Texas program in 2003. She began with a team of five volunteers who used cassette tapes to record mothers reading stories. Gonzalez took over for Dullnig in 2018. Today, the program is digital with links sent directly to the children’s guardians.
“Reading a story makes a difference, because when we send the URL, mom can record it once, and the child can listen to it 100 times, and that’s reassuring,” Gonzalez said. “It helps kids feel better when they’re lonely. They know somebody loves them. And it’s so important because these kids didn’t do anything wrong.”
The program is currently offered in one county jail and 11 prisons across Texas. Moms have to apply and meet certain criteria to be selected. Once selected, a mom will record themselves reading the first book – usually a nostalgic pick like Goodnight Moon. The recording is sent to the child, who then sends back a request for the next book. Books like Elephant & Piggie, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the Harry Potter series are highly requested. Mothers are given 10 minutes to record and read as much as they can. They end the recording by encouraging their child to finish the book at home and write to tell them what happened next. If a mother completes all six sessions with Storybook Project, their child will have 12 books at the end of the program.
“We know it takes 20 books to build a home library, but it’s a start,” Gonzalez said. “And it’s really important to make sure that kids have a tactile book, so that they learn left to right and top to bottom and front to back.”
Angelica Zaragoza lives in Dallas and is a Storybook Project alumna. She now works on the board, and said the program helped her maintain a relationship with her eldest son Andrew. Zaragoza’s son received a recording of her reading the Magic Tree House series to him while she was in prison in Dayton. Even though they were apart, listening to the recorded bedtime story comforted Andrew, so much so that he brought the tapes to college with him.
“I believe it strengthened his love for reading,” Zaragoza said. “It has always given us something to talk about. When we first reunited, it was one of the only topics that was a conversation starter. My voice remained familiar.”
Charlene Cooley began volunteering with the program in 2018 after hearing about it from a friend. Cooley, a retiree, was interested in spending her newfound free time volunteering. She said she loves hearing mothers talk about the impact the program has on them and their children.
“One mother was telling us last month how her son plays the recordings over and over and over,” Cooley said. “And even when he’s playing video games, you know, he’ll sit there and listen to his mom’s voice.”
Stories like this are why Gonzalez hopes to expand the project into more counties in Texas. Right now the project is running pilot programs in the Travis County Correctional Complex in Austin and the Harris County Jail in Houston, with the hopes of making those programs permanent in 2025.
“The power of connection through a read-aloud story is absolutely connected to the mother’s voice,” Gonzalez said. “Mom can read a simple story or a longer chapter book and the child gets to hear them. This simple act conveys such love and care, in addition to the fact that moms can literally say ‘I love you’ on the recording. This kindness assures a child that they are remembered and cherished.”