It’s Read Across America Week, a time to celebrate and encourage literacy and some local programs are determined to create the next generation of book lovers and the books they offer are free.
Valeria Amaral-Gomez shares her love of reading with her daughter, 16-month-old Alessandra.
“It’s something that you teach. It’s not something that’s just innate. And I wanted to make it a priority for her,” Amaral-Gomez said.
“We’ve been going to the library at least 3 times a week. Different libraries across Miami have different programs depending on age group,” she said. “She’s been able to talk a lot and says a lot of words and I really believe that’s because we read at least 2 to 3 times a day.
The average children’s book costs between $8 and $10, but most of the books in Alessandra’s collection were totally free!
Alessandra is part of the Book Club, a program offered through The Children’s Trust in Miami-Dade.
Kids from birth to 5 years old can get one free book a month to keep.
Alessandra gets books in both English and Spanish.
“We’re engaging children around a love of reading and then a love of learning later in life,” said Daniella Barreras, the Associate Director of Community Engagement for The Children’s Trust. “It’s also about building that home library and that exposure at home so that by the time a child walks into kindergarten, they are ready for whatever is going to come their way.”
As a former educator, Barreras said some children are not ready to read in time for school.
“I spent a lot of time in classrooms, and one thing that will resonate with me for the rest of my life is working specifically with kindergartners and when I distributed the books for our reading time, there were children in our classroom that didn’t know which way to hold those books. And so from a very early point in my career, this concept of access and exposure to books is key for a child’s success,” she said.
Each book delivery also comes with an activity sheet for parents and children to do together. Fifty thousand local children, including Alessandra, currently receive this special delivery.
“I’ve shared it so much with all of my other friends that have kids and they were blown away,” said Amaral-Gomez. So many people didn’t know. I feel like it’s such a great resource that so many people don’t know about.”
Learn more about the Children’s Trust Book Club here.
Broward has a similar program called “Broward Bookworms.”
There’s also a program called “New Worlds Reading” that offers free books to kids from kindergarten to 5th grade who are not yet reading at grade level.
