Things I learned this week- Unbelievable statistic edition

I learned many things this week, but most of them are things that I can't share until December 26. This morning, while I was absent-mindedly using facebook with no intention of learning anything, I saw that my friend Rachel became a fan of The Children's Book Bank, a portland charity that receives donated used childrens books, cleans and sorts them, and distributes them to children in low-income areas.
I clicked on the link and was directed to the Children's Book Bank facebook page, where I saw this statistic :
In homes in middle income neighborhoods, the ratio of books to children is 13 books for every child.

In low income neighborhoods the ratio is 1 book for every 300 children.

Think about that. One book per 300 kids.
It sounded so ridiculous that I decided it must have been made-up, or, at best, from wikipedia.
But it isn't made up. The statistic comes from the 2006 Handbook of Early Literacy Research, Volume 2.
I wasn't able to actually read the handbook, so I don't know how the aurhors arrived at that figure, but the 300:1 ratio is cited often on childrens' literacy websites.

Can you believe it? One book per 300 kids?! In the United States of America.
I have a hard time getting Madison to let go of books. She still has complete sets of Junie B Jones books and Magic Treehouse books, as well as lots of other books for young readers. It's time to let those go, and get them into the hands of kids that need them.