'Book Stamps' Proposed For Poor Families With Children

By Erik W. Robelen

Washington

A leading Senate Democrat is proposing to help nourish young minds with a plan that would provide "book stamps"—inspired by the federal food stamp program—for low-income families with small children.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, announced the idea in a speech delivered here last month to the Center for National Policy.

"One of the most important factors in the early achievement of literacy by young children is home access to books," he said. "Food for the mind is as important as...