Digg Story
Stumble It!Read to a tot, no matter what. That is the goal for this year's Children's Book Week for the state of Kansas.
Kansas Reads to Preschoolers is a project of the Kansas State Library, and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius selected the book "No Matter What" by Debi Gliori as the featured book for libraries across Kansas to read to children during this week.
Reading to children at an early age is crucial for the development of young children.
"I think it highlights the fact that it's really important," said Joyce Steiner, library youth services coordinator. "I think most people know it's important to read to young kids, although many times they don't realize how young they should start."
Steiner said that in the last few years there has been more research done on the infant brain and its growth that supports how important it is to start early on.
"I think that the birth to age three is perhaps the most critical as far as that's when the brain is developing the fastest," Steiner said.
Debby Ziegler is a mother of 5-year-old twins and tries to take them to Storytime at the library once a week. She started reading to them when they were tiny babies.
"We just try to get into the habit as a family," Zeigler said. "They've got two older brothers, so we read a lot as a family every night before bed."
She said teaching at a young age gets them ready to read for the future.
"At this age it increases their vocabulary so much and gives them so many new situations to ask about and vocabulary words to ask what they mean," Zeigler said.
The emphasis of reading to every child in Kansas this week is a small urge to get them excited to read when they are older.
The library concludes Children's Book Week with a reading of "No Matter What" by the author Debi Gliori on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
