Books for Babies delivers at hospital

SHARON — Each of the approximately 250 babies born annually at Sharon Hospital now goes home with a new children’s book, thanks to a Books for Babies partnership between the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon, the nonprofit organization Read to Grow and Sharon Hospital.Families also receive a literacy guide for parents of newborns as part of this joint effort to foster children’s language and early literacy development.Sharon Hospital is the 10th Connecticut hospital to adopt Read to Grow’s Books for Babies program. Statewide, Books for Babies reaches 50 percent of Connecticut newborns and their parents annually.Recent research suggests that children should be exposed to a language-rich environment from birth, because it can significantly improve cognitive and language development and readiness for school.Read To Grow was started by Roxanne Coady, owner of R.J.Julia Book Sellers in Madison, in the late 1990s. Last year the organization distributed more than 136,000 new and gently used books to children, families, schools, health resources and hospitals. Of these, there were 18,000 books for newborn infants in Connecticut hospitals.As part of the Books for Babies program at Sharon Hospital, maternity unit nurses talk to parents about early brain and literacy development, and the importance of reading aloud from birth. The nonprofit’s “Learning Begins at Birth” poster hangs on the wall of each patient’s room as a gentle reminder. In conjunction with the Books for Babies program at Sharon Hospital, the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon provides a book by local author Sandra Boynton, and library staff and volunteers assemble and deliver the literacy packets to the hospital.“This exciting collaborative project is a great addition to our community outreach efforts and extends far beyond the town of Sharon,” said Gretchen Hachmeister, a Hotchkiss Library of Sharon board member. “We hope it encourages many young families to visit their own local libraries.”Read to Grow may be reached by calling 203-488-6800 or emailing egerstl@readtogrow.org.

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