Children who are read to several times a day at ages two to three do substantially better in kindergarten than children whose parents read to them less often. Literacy activities – reading aloud, teaching letters/words/numbers /music, doing arts and crafts, and visiting a library – all promote school readiness. Doing something intentional, fun, and reading-based drives school readiness. Since 2004, BBTL has leveraged the Library’s over 70-year-old tradition of creating and performing sophisticated puppet plays to help prepare Nashville’s preschoolers for success. NPL librarian Liz Atack, the first ever library-based educator to win the National Center for Families Learning’s Teacher of the Year Award in 2014, is now using prize money from the award to expand BBTL to Nashville’s refugee and immigrant populations.

The Library designed BBTL with local early childhood professionals so it would best meet their needs. As a result of their input, NPL has dedicated staff that develops library resource lists, curriculum materials, and trainings to help teachers bring stories to life in their classrooms. NPL also has dedicated staff that conducts story times and puppet shows in the classroom. Based on input from teachers and directors, BBTL incorporated parent workshops into its offerings in 2007, helping families integrate books and literacy into their daily lives. To reflect Nashville’s changing demographics, BBTL now offers parent workshops in English and Spanish.

From its inception, BBTL has incorporated measurements into all aspects of programming. Teachers and parents are surveyed to assess knowledge gained and behaviors changed. An outside evaluator interviews children following the puppet show to assess their knowledge of the story. After working with BBTL for at least 6 months, 95% of teachers report an increase of literature-based themes in their classroom, and 98% continue to incorporate BBTL’s themes and materials into their classroom curriculum. Over 90% of the programs served have requested follow-up programming from BBTL. Parents served through BBTL’s parent workshops report similar changes in behavior. After participating in a workshop, 97% report that they engage in literacy-related activities more frequently with their child. 73% report an increase in their library use.