Born to read

COEUR d’ALENE – It’s never too early to encourage your little ones to read.

“We now know it’s really important to read to children from age zero on,” Coeur d’Alene Public Library outreach services librarian Char Beach said. “Long before they can talk, they’re taking in a lot of information and parents need to engage them. A newborn isn’t going to be engaged in the same way; babies respond by kicking and smiling and eyes widening.”

The Coeur d’Alene Library Foundation recently launched the Born Reading with the Coeur d’Alene Public Library program at Kootenai Health. This program provides book bags containing board books, library card applications and early reading information for families who just welcomed a new life into the world. The goal is to encourage a love of reading at a young age while providing a special social activity for babies and their families.

The Library Foundation delivered 170 book bags after receiving a $5,000 grant from the charitable Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation. The grant will help support the Library Foundation as it supplies these special book bags to families of babies born at Kootenai Health for at least the next six months.

“We are really focused on early literacy at the library and reaching out to people who may not necessarily come to the library,” Beach said. “Newborn parents are busy.”

Kootenai Health appreciates this partnership with the Coeur d’Alene Public Library in its mission to promote healthy reading habits in children.

“The library has so many cool programs for young families,” women’s and children’s services clinical coordinator Kaila Mallrie said. “Any time we can get kids interested in learning at an early age, you develop that lifetime love. If they know how to seek information, then they have access to unlimited potential.”