• 61 percent of low-income families have no age-appropriate books at all in their homes for their children.

• Babies begin learning the moment they’re born. Rapid learning takes place during the early months after birth, more than any other time in a person’s life. By age 3, a baby’s brain has grown to about 80% of its adult size.

• Sharing books with children beginning at birth promotes bonding and attachment. The time spent together provides children with positive experiences that foster healthy emotional as well as cognitive development.

• Developing language provides the foundation for developing literacy skills. Speaking, reading aloud and singing to your children all stimulate their understanding and use of language.

• More than one-third of our children enter kindergarten without the basic language skills they need to learn to read.

Reading aloud is good for your baby’s memory, curiosity, and vocabulary.

• Of every 100 children who leave first grade as poor readers, 88 will still be poor readers at the end of third grade, limiting their chances of academic and future workforce success.

• Reading aloud to children is the single most important activity for preventing low literacy. It provides early language experience that actually stimulates a child’s brain to grow.

• Reading is learned through the ears. Parents lay a foundation for success in reading by talking to a child, reading books, and playing auditory games such as those that involve rhyming words.

• Reading is a lifelong activity and it is never too early to start.

• The more time you spend talking with your child, the more his vocabulary will grow. Research shows that young children who are exposed to a lot of language through books and conversation tend to do better in school.

• Parents are a child’s first and most important teachers. They play a vital role in their child’s language and literacy development.