Local programs promote early literacy

     I know I’ve shared this several times before, but reading is important, especially in my life.

     I start my day by reading the Cedar Rapids Gazette. I read news and entertainment magazines. At any one time, I’m immersed in a few different books. I read news articles online multiple times a day. I take a book with me everywhere I go. I’m reading morning, noon and night.

     From an early age, my mom would take my younger sister and I to Manchester most every Saturday morning to visit the used bookstore. It was owned by family friends of my mom’s, a family who loved reading just as much as we did.

     We would spend hours inside. I would have to browse every bookshelf very carefully to find just the right books I wanted to buy that day. If I were looking for a book in a particular series, I would have to make sure I already owned the earlier books before buying the most recent.

     I still maintain this same love of bookstores. I enjoy spending hours looking through the shelves of fiction and non-fiction, discovering non-fiction authors I am unfamiliar with or might really enjoy.

     My mom’s love of reading not only took us to bookstores here and there, but to our small-town library most weekends.

     Without a doubt I know this trend in my young life is where my current, on-going love of reading extends. I serve on the Monticello library board. You can find me sitting inside the library a couple times a week reading in between meetings or events I have to cover for the paper.

     My maternal grandfather is also a lover of reading and books. He’s a published author, having written several family history books about both his side and my grandmother’s side of the family.

     (I also got my love of history from my grandpa. We can talk history for hours.)

     Reading is such an important part of growing up, learning and developing.

     Two local programs, that I have been happy to help promote, are all about encouraging young children to read.

     In November, the Monticello Public Library held a kick-off event for 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten. The name says it all; help your young child read 1,000 books before he/she enters kindergarten.

     The library brought in several guest readers who read themed books to the children in attendance. Miss Penny (Schmit) chose “Bedtime for Batman” for me. As a lover of Batman and superheroes, this was right up my alley!

     Those children who complete the 1,000-book challenge will receive a free book bag. What a treat!

     Jones County ECI (Early Childhood Iowa), led by Sherri Hunt, is lucky to be able to offer Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to children ages 0 to 5. This is the second time ECI has been able to offer the early literacy program, in which children who enroll can receive one free book a month from the time they enroll until they turn 5. So if you sign your child up at birth, he/she could essentially receive 60 free books by the time they turn 5! What a deal!

     Both the Monticello library and ECI have collaborated in the past, but have a shared mission and passion to help educate youngsters and prepare them for school.

     Reading to your children at a young age is so important. When sitting at the library, I enjoy seeing parents and grandparents come in with young kids, watching them scamper over to the children’s section to find an exciting book. The love of reading  is a joy to see!