It's not just about reading, Chang said. It's about being better parents.

"I learned that you don't just read the book then put it down," said inmate Michael Pilialoha, a 27-year-old father of a 7-year-old son. "Now I can read the book, explain it to him and share the life lessons (we learned) with my kid. It's more helpful."

More than a dozen inmates meet once a week for 12 weeks, reading children's books together and discussing underlying themes and lessons.

"I definitely have a different outlook on children's books," said inmate James Shipman, 43, father of eight and grandfather of three. "I thought they were simple, but they're not."

Fatheread is part of the national Motheread program, a literacy-based program that uses children's books to improve parenting and foster better communication within families. Since 1999 the program, which is also offered at the Women's Community Correctional Center and the Halawa Correctional Facility, has expanded into dozens of local public schools.

At schools, parents take turns reading books aloud with a trained facilitator, then discuss the books' themes and connections to real-life situations. Parents go home and, before the next weekly meeting, read the same books to their children, talking with them about the themes and values they had discussed.

Stephan Izumi, right, and Christopher J. Connor, both dads, participate in the Fatheread program at Waiawa Correctional Facility.

Motheread/Fatheread program: Phone: 732-5402 or (800) 424-1301 from the Neighbor Islands E-mail: read@hihumanities.org Web site: www.hihumanities.org

Book list Some books used by the Motheread/Fatheread program: • "Abiyoyo" by Pete Seeger • "A Chair for My Mother" by Vera B. Williams • "Grandfather's Journey" by Allen Say • "Horton Hears a Who!" by Dr. Seuss • "Ira Sleeps Over" by Bernard Waber • "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" by Charles G. Shaw • "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch • "Ming Lo Moves the Mountain" by Arnold Lobel • "Peter's Chair" by Ezra Jack Keats • "The Story of Ferdinand" by Munro Leaf • "Uncle Nacho's Hat" by Harriet Rohmer • "Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak • "Wings: A Tale of Two Chickens" by James Marshall Source: Hawai'i Council for the Humanities

As a result of reading aloud, literacy and reading comprehension levels improve in both parents and children.

But that's just gravy.

"We're not necessarily teaching people how to read," said Chang, Motheread/Fatheread project coordinator with the Hawai'i Council for the Humanities. "We look at the program as being the next step after that. It's about interpreting what you read, looking at what are the underlying themes and values, what is the message the book is putting out there."

But in correctional facilities like Waiawa, fathers can't just go home in the evenings and read to their children.

The hope is that what they learn in the classroom they'll remember once they're reunited with their children. And put what they've learned into action.

Teaching parenting skills and encouraging stronger family bonds have become integral parts of the rehabilitation process at Waiawa.

"We want to have them connect with their kids before they leave here," said warden Ted Sakai. "That connection is so very important. The key is to help the kids and hopefully break the cycle. We gotta help the next generation."

In addition to a mandatory parenting class offered by an on-site facilitator, the prison offers two other parenting programs — Read To Me and Supporting Keiki of Incarcerated Parents, or SKIP — aimed at fostering connections and better communication between parents and children.

In Read To Me, inmates record themselves reading children's books, then send the tape, along with a copy of the book, to their children. SKIP is an 18-week program that includes parenting classes, play-group sessions and caregiver support groups.

The goal is to stop the cycle.

Compared with others, children of prisoners are six times more likely to be incarcerated during their lifetimes, according to 2001 U.S. Department of Justice statistics. There are more than 1.5 million children younger than 18 who have a parent in prison.

The objective of SKIP, for example, is to build resilient families and nurture healthy parent-child relationships through weekly play-groups at the prison.

"They're taking what they learn and applying it," said Wayna Buch, community programs coordinator at Good Beginnings Alliance, a partner of SKIP. "It's the step that makes it real for them, and it defines who they are in the lives of their children ... The focus is on strengthening the family relationship, so that when the parent returns home, they're not returning home as strangers. There's already that bond."

About 50 men have participated in the program since 2002.

"There is a change in attitude in terms of who they are in the lives of their kids," Buch said. "That has become very, very obvious."

Through Fatheread, Pilialoha has realized the importance of building a strong relationship with his son, who lives in Arizona. He writes to him, calls him and hopes to see him more often. He's even signed up for a parenting class he'll attend once he leaves Waiawa.

He doesn't think he's changed as a person. But his priorities have. "My goal now," he said, "is to just spend more time with him."