HIGHLAND PARK, MI - On the last day before summer vacation at Emmanuel Head Start preschool in Highland Park, Mary-Catherine Harrison and her non-profit RX for Reading sent close to 30 children home with a bag full of books.

For some of the kids, those provided by RX for Reading are the only books in the house.

Although she's used to teaching an older crowd, Harrison told the morning's group of preschoolers, rowdy from a clown performance that ended minutes before Harrison sat on the carpet to read "A Porcupine Named Fluffy" to the group of 3- to 5-year-olds, that someday they'd be reading in her "big" classroom, too.

"You'll come be my students," she said as she opened the book.

And then she read to them, even if a few weren't paying direct attention, because it's important, she said.

The words are important.

Bridging a gap

By the time children in Michigan reach third grade, 40 percent of them aren't reading at proficiency, according to statistics from the Michigan League of Public Policy.

In 2013, 80 percent of fourth-graders from low-income families "did not demonstrate proficiency" on a national test.

According to Harrison, an English professor at the University of Detroit Mercy, research shows 60 percent of low-income families don't have a single book in their home.

That's what Harrison knows, and that is what drives her RX for Reading non-profit literacy group.

Since the group started in Detroit just under nine months ago, they've pumped over 9,570 books into the Detroit and Highland Park communities.

"You have to have books (in the home)," Harrison said. "It's just that they're a bit of a luxury ... they cost money."

The initial idea was simple. Harrison sought a synergy between one of her English courses at the university, and the dozen or so nursing students who filled the class.

She wanted to draw a connection between health and literacy, and though she knew that literacy, especially at a young age, is part of good health, she had to think of a way to show that.

RX for Reading was created with the intention of installing libraries at local pediatric health clinics. When the child leaves the doctor's office, they can take a book home with them, much like they would a piece of candy. And they get to keep the book.

In February, Harrison and company had stocked two little library shelves in Detroit. As of June 4, there were 14 across the city, all of them stocked with around 300 books. When the books run low, RX for Reading replaces them The organization is far ahead of where Harrison had hoped it would be, she said.

"I will say that we have exceeded our goal," Harrison said, smiling Thursday after reading to a the group of kids

RX for Reading began a partnership last fall with Emmanuel Head Start, part of the United Children and Family Head Start network of preschools, in Highland Park, just down McNichols Road from the university.

Harrison and a few volunteers from the university read to the preschoolers twice a month through the winter and spring. Each time RX for Reading visited the classroom comprised of 3- to 5-year-olds, the kids got to take home a book. That amounts to 20 books, in addition to paper, markers, crayons, a notebook and a bookmark, that the kids and their families now own.

Harrison said her group is a supplement to to education, though.

"We are just supporting (Emmanuel)," she said. "We are just helping get the books to the children."

Kim Ogletree, one of the head teachers at Emmanuel, said she's seen a difference in her students since Rx for Reading has started the partnership with the preschool.

"They have become more interested in reading," she said. "A lot of the children would say 'I don't have any books at home, or my mom doesn't read to me.'

"I don't hear that anymore," Ogletree said.

In her 21 years working with United Children and Family Head Start, Ogletree said she's seen similar efforts to RX for Reading, "but never anything like this."

The kicker is that though all of the students proudly screamed that they love to read, not a single one of them could actually make sense of the words on the page. They're too young yet.

Dominique Williams, whose daughter Madison was in one of the classes at Emmanuel, said her daughter talks about reading all the time.

"She reads to me," Williams said, laughing. Really, Madison makes up her own story while holding the book, though.

"She wants to read at home," she said. "She loves it."

Madison often asks to be read to as well, Williams said.

Starting young

It's important for children to at least hear words -- a variety of them -- before they turn 5-years-old, Harrison said, as 90 percent of brain development happens in that time. Children from low-income families on average heard 30 million less words by their fifth birthday than those from wealthier families, according to Harrison.

"Children who are read to, sung to, and talked to during this pivotal period will develop a larger vocabulary, do better in school and become stronger independent readers," she said.

So, even though the kids RX for Reading are specifically targeting with their program won't be able to read for a few years, the program will still have an impact on their lives.

Harrison's efforts have a compounding effect: getting words into the ears of young kids boosts the chances of those kids reading at proficiency by third grade, which is the "single strongest predictor of high school graduation and a successful career," she said.

"I teach college students, and RX for Reading helps prepare future college students," Harrison said.

The program gets University of Detroit Mercy students working in their community, too. Three of Harrison's students who help out most regularly handed out books and supplies during the end of the year party at Emmanuel last Thursday.

"They're so happy," Alyssa Burgess, 19, said of the preschoolers.

Two others, Renesha Smoot, 20, and Sara Zawacki, 22, had been reading to the kids during the winter and spring semester. By the second visit, the preschoolers even began to call Smoot "Nesha." Harrison said that showing the preschoolers that college kids like reading further cements in their minds the idea that reading, and higher education, is cool.

What's next?

RX for Reading has been around for less than a year, and they've already distributed more books than Harrison had ever hoped. They'll be back next year, she said, and growing over the summer.

According to Harrison, they need more books.

They hope to grow their stock of gently used and new books through book drives and fundraising. The group takes donations. $25 gets them 10 new books.

Harrison said she hopes to install a second Little Free Library in southwest Detroit this summer, too. The first lending library was installed in front of Gesu Catholic School across the street from the university a few months ago.

Harrison said RX for Reading currently needs Spanish-language children's books, or books where the main character comes from a diverse background. A student who worked last year with Harrison won a grant that allowed her to buy around 50 books with characters of various races and from different family types.

It helps when the kids can in some way identify with the main characters in the books RX for Reading gives out.

Zawacki and Harrison also partnered to win a Ford Community Corps Partnership grant, which will be used in the fall. Harrison said she plans to keep getting books into these homes.

"Not just one book," she said, smiling.

She and her students are giving kids their own starter libraries.

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.