(The New York Times)
By Nicholas Kristof
Forget the necktie that will sit in Dad’s closet or the perfume that your sister Sue will soon regift, for I have some better ideas.
…
Help a child learn to read! Books were my childhood’s magic carpets that lifted me on the lifelong journey that now leads me to write this column. I owe so much to “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and to Freddy the Pig. But too many kids in America today don’t have books, library cards or parents accustomed to reading to them.
That’s where Reach Out and Read comes in. It hands out children’s books to low-income American families — more than seven million books last year — but even more important, it piggybacks on well-child visits to pediatricians, who encourage parents to read to the child regularly.
The doctors give a book on each visit, from birth until the program ends at the age of 5. That amounts to 14 or 15 books for a child in the program.
In a sense, the doctors “prescribe” reading to the child, and studies show that parents take this very seriously and are significantly more likely to read aloud to their children. The aim is to cultivate the habit of family reading so that the children will be ready to thrive in school.
The prospect of receiving books also increases well-child visits by up to 40 percent, keeping children healthier and creating a virtuous circle in which parents also hear more about the importance of reading.
Read the full article at The New York Times here.
Also: A holiday gift guide of nonprofits worthy of a donation (MSNBC)
Also: Reach Out and Read Chosen as Only U.S.-Based Nonprofit for New York Times Holiday Impact Prize (Yahoo Finance; The World Education Reporter; The Non-Profit Insider; American Times Reporter; Health Professional Times; The Daily Bookshelf)
Download the press release as a PDF here.