Isn’t Reading Critical to Child Development?

So why aren’t more American children doing it? The National Center for Educational Statistics released an annual report in 2007 that found a third of all fourth-graders cannot read at a basic level. You can imagine the implications of this for their futures and for society as a whole. My husband and I read something to our son every day. He is still young, so a lot of the reading is about familiarizing him with the alphabet. I get a kick out of finding new educational books for him and now he regularly picks up books and brings them to one of us and makes us read them to him. The trick is deciding which ones to buy. I can spend hours looking for books. You can find some of our favorite and bestselling educational books for babies and toddlers on this site. Other tips to encourage reading include identifying reading material that fits with their interests, giving them lots of things to read, praising their efforts and being a role model.

If you want to reach out and help other families who may not have the means to build a home library, then give books to the Toys for Tots Literacy Program. You can also donate books for the program at participating Mail Boxes Etc. and UPS store locations. If you are interested in getting books in the hands of children overseas, one good program is the Girls Program of the Amegezi Gemaanyi Youth Association, which focuses on mentoring, education and skills training young girls in Uganda. They are collecting books, dolls and lots of supplies so if you have things you would like to give away, that would also be a good place to start!