Celebrate
Reading NATIONAL
MONTH Everything you need to know to encourage
your child’s love for reading
BY MEGAN CONWAY
30 Washington FAMILY MARCH 2022



Read to Kids at an Early Age
According to Conni L. Strittmatter, youth and family engagement manager at Baltimore
County Public Library in Maryland, “Literacy skills begin on day one for children.” While
children don’t need to be reading or sounding out letters at birth, “it does mean that kids
start their lives ready to absorb all the information around them, including a love of reading
and learning,” she says.

When parents read to their children (even infants), they plant the seeds for a love of
reading and learning. They are also “exposing them to fundamental components of language
and reasoning that will form a base for their overall education,” she adds.

Childhood reading holds great importance, explains Tora Burns, reading programs
manager at the DC Public Library. Reading builds confidence and vocabulary, and it helps
young brains develop.

“It teaches (children) how they interact with the world,” she notes. In addition, “Reading
with a trusted adult as children age helps create positive memories that build resiliency and
combat adverse childhood experiences.”
Jenny Bogoni, executive director of Read by 4th, oversees a Philadelphia coalition of
family, community and systems leaders aiming to protect every child’s right to read.

She emphasizes the vital nature of childhood literacy.

WashingtonFAMILY.com 31
PHOTO: PROSTOCK-STUDIO; BOOK &HEART: BILJANA CVETANOVIC/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS
M ARCH IS NATIONAL
READING MONTH.

When you were a
child, did you have a love for
books and the array of universes
that reading opens? Promoting
literacy is important, especially
in a society that may not
always inspire the enthusiastic
consumption of books.

According to 2020 results from a National Assessment of Educational Progress report,
“The percentages of 9-year-olds and 13-year-olds who report that they ‘never or hardly
ever’ read for fun have increased significantly since the question was first included in the
questionnaire in 1984.” This sobering reality of the modern age underlies the importance of
nurturing early readers and introducing future generations to the sense of wonder found in
the pages of a book.

In recognition of National Reading Month, we spoke with experts on the importance of
diverse, enthusiastic childhood reading and how parents can raise children with healthy
appetites for books.