Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project

The goal of Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project is to provide parents with a positive way to reach out to their children while incarcerated. The project promotes a healthy relationship with a positive focus on literacy. It also encourages being connected as a family during difficult times.

The specific objectives of the program are:

• to provide the gift of an age and culturally appropriate book selected with the help of a volunteer
• to facilitate the taping of the mom (parent) reading to the child
• to encourage the sharing of hope based in reality at the reunion of the family
• to allow the children to have the voice of their mother or father with them when they cannot be physically near
• to encourage positive experiences with reading between mom/dad and the child

Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project was started in 1993 by Companions as a Christmas project for the children of women imprisoned at Cook County Jail in Chicago. It has since become a year round program. Additionally, similar programs are currently operating in over 20 states. Companions also uses Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project in conjunction with the parenting classes that are offered at several correctional facilities in Illinois.

With the help of a trained volunteer, the mom picks a book that is age appropriate for each or her children. She is then given an opportunity to audiotape a personal message as well as the reading of the books for her children. The books and tapes are then sent to the children by the volunteer on behalf of the mother. Many mothers end with a message of love and thanks to the caregiver. (It is a very emotional moment for the mother and the volunteer.??)

The books available from which the inmates can choose include a selection of award winning titles as well as books that offer a diverse and wide ranging look at many cultures. In this way, the mother can choose a book that fits her child’s experiences, fears, joys and family situations. Since all of the books are gifts to children who many times have very few books, Companions provides only new books. Ways you can become involved:

How to help:

• Ask your church, book group or church group to sponsor some women and children at Christmas and Mother’s Day. For $25.00, a woman can tape for each of her children. This covers the cost of the books, the tape, the mailing supplies and postage. $500 covers the cost of one seasonal taping that delivers books to over 500 children, giving over 250 moms the chance to read and sing to their children. $1500 will cover the cost of seasonal tapings at two county jails and two correctional centers.
• Host a party to collect selections on the book list or other titles that you have discovered on your own.
• Use Scholastic book points to order books.
• Ask your friends to purchase a book to donate for each book they purchase from Scholastic for their own child.
• Become an Aunt Mary’s Storybook volunteer on your own schedule. You will receive specific training and an orientation from our staff. Taping before Mother’s Day, Christmas and Easter are especially busy times.

“When a mother goes to prison, usually it is her children who suffer most. ... Maternal imprisonment affects future generations because children’s psychological health and sense of family is severely damaged by the separation from their mothers.”

Through Aunt Mary’s Storybook Project, you and I can make a difference by providing books that help both parent and child to learn and to grow together.