Program offers books to encourage parents to read to their children

The Books To Grow On program of the Family Reading Partnership of Cortland County is happy to let parents know that starting January 1st, all children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years should receive a new, age appropriate book from their pediatrician at their child’s well-child visits. These books are given at 6, 12, and 18 months, 2, 3, and 4 year visits. Thanks to donations in 2008 from the Kings’ Daughters, the Cortland Community Foundation, the Ralph R. Wilkins Foundation, Cortland Rotary Club, and a generous grant from the John Ben Snow Foundation, the Books To Grow On program is able to move to full implementation with all of the pediatricians and family medical practices in Cortland County. These include Dr. Ananda, Dr. Castellanos, Dr. Djafari, Dr. Hawkins, Dr. Mastrucci, Dr. Zarzecki, the Family Health Network and the Cortland Health Center.

The Books To Grow On program is just one of six programs of the Family Reading Partnership. The goal of FRP is to promote family reading practices so thoroughly within our community’s culture that families will read to their children just as they feed and clothe them. FRP also wants to ensure that all families have access to quality children’s books at home. The other programs of Family Reading Partnership are: Books at Birth –parents of all babies born at Cortland Regional Medical Center receive a book as a gift from the hospital when their baby is born; Welcome to School Book – all kindergarten students receive a brand new book at kindergarten registration in the spring to welcome them to their new school; Bright Red Bookshelf – gently used books are donated and put on red bookshelves across the community for families to take; Give the Gift of Family Reading – holiday book drive, new books are given through Catholic Charities, DSS, Loaves and Fishes, and the Salvation Army; and Book Express – fifty different book bags containing five books each are available for families to borrow from the Family Fun and Resource Center and the CAPCO Headstart in Cortland.

Family Reading Partnership is a partner in the Cortland Area Communities That Care Coalition. One of the goals of the CACTC is to promote healthy families and foster positive values about education. FRP believes that encouraging parents to read to their babies from birth will foster a love of books and reading in children and help them be better prepared for school.

Nancy Hatch is a retired librarian from Cortland City Schools and a CACTC Board member. She also supports Family Reading Partnership's Books to Grow On.