Literacy begins at birth, long before the start of formal instruction in elementary school. By the time a child enters kindergarten, she or he already has been learning for 5 or 6 years. In fact, babies are born learning; parents are their first teachers and home is their first “school.”

• Read to Grow, through Books for Babies, helps build literacy right from birth. We are the only statewide nonprofit organization that connects with parents in the hospital setting and prepares them to take an active role in their child’s literacy development from day one. To help parents create language-rich homes in which children can develop critical early skills, we provide books to families and to the programs that interact with infants, toddlers, and school-age children and their parents.

• The first step to literacy is developing language skills. Strong language skills are among the best predictors of later reading and writing abilities. Reading aloud exposes babies to words and speech, and helps build good language skills early on.

Reading aloud to children is the single most important intervention for preventing low literacy.

• According to current research, the first three years of life offer a critical window for brain development. The human brain is not fully developed at birth. Each of us is born with a genetic blueprint—-a basic design. The brain develops as genes (nature) and experience (nurture) interact. In order to make the most of these plans, children need input from their environment. What they need most in the early years are stable, positive relationships with loving caretakers and good learning experiences. What happens in those earliest years lays the foundation for later growth, development and learning.

Books for Babies provides families of newborns with a “literacy bag” — a new children’s book and an informational guide for parents — during their stay on maternity units, in partnership with:

• Bridgeport Hospital
• Day Kimball Hospital, Putnam
• Griffin Hospital, Derby
• Hartford Hospital
• Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, New London
• Manchester Memorial Hospital
• Middlesex Hospital, Middletown
• Sharon Hospital
• St. Francis Hospital & Medical Center, Hartford
• St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Bridgeport
• Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven
• Yale-New Haven Hospital – St. Raphael Campus, New Haven

A unique feature of our program is the in-hospital visit from a Books for Babies volunteer. To help all families get started, volunteers who have been trained by our program visit with parents on maternity units to introduce Read to Grow and to talk about the “how and why” of reading aloud to babies. Gently used books are available for brothers and sisters of newborns to take home in all partner hospitals to promote family reading time.

• This year 53% of Connecticut’s newborns will go home with a literacy bag and copy of “Welcome to the World!”

Families can enroll in our Books for Babies Follow-up Program and automatically receive more free children’s books and literacy guidance twice during their baby’s first year of life. All families are encouraged to request children’s books from Read to Grow at any time, from birth through completion of middle school.

Continuing the link between literacy and healthy development, Books for Babies is partnering with four primary health care centers in an outreach prevention initiative, serving families that receive health care at the community centers. New developmentally appropriate books are given at the two-month well-child visit; providers encourage families to share books with their babies and also to enroll in RTG programs.

• Read to Grow also provides books to the waiting rooms at hospital and community-based pediatric primary care centers for children to read while they wait and to take home to build their personal libraries.

Are you interested in becoming a Books for Babies Volunteer? If so, please visit our Volunteer Page, to learn more and fill out our online application, and we will be in touch with you shortly. Thank you!