I worked in a poverty school. When questioned, the vast majority of students did not have a single book at home. We began accepting donations of used books and magazines. Teachers had students pick three children's books they were interested in and a magazine or two they thought their parent would like and take them home. Book racks of used books were left up all year by the centrally located restrooms. Frequently, students would browse the selection while waiting in line at the restroom or while going to the office. Parents started looking through the racks when coming to ball games.
Over a few years and also using other strategies, student reading scores at that school went from among the bottom 20% to 70% (nation's average is 50%).
From a study:
Take D.C.'s Anacostia neighborhood, where nearly all the population is black and 61 percent of children live in poverty. When the research was conducted in the summer of 2014, it didn't have a single store selling a book for preschoolers, and there were only five books available for kids in grades K-12. In other words, 830 children would have to share a single book in the impoverished Washington neighborhood. "Book stores in the U.S. are becoming a rare bird, but [in places like this], there are no bookstores at all," Neuman said. "How do you become literate when there are no available resources?"
just kidding. This is definitely very important. 
