Books in the Home

166,000 individual Maine children have received books from Raising Readers for their home libraries in the last ten years. We all know intuitively that this is a positive thing for the children of the state, but a new national study confirms the positive link between books in the home and children that do well in school.

A University of Nevada, Reno study showed that children raised in a home where they were exposed to 500 books would go 3.2 years further in their education, on average. 500 books? Who has 500 books in their home?

The importance in not the number of books but that there is a relationship between school success and books in the home. By the time your Maine child reaches the age of five, she will have received up to twelve books from Raising Readers. How do you expose your child to more books beyond her home library? Use a Maine library.

If you took two picture books home from the public library each week started when your child is a toddler, think of how many books would pass through your home. Use that library card to turn your home into a learning rich place for your future student to grow up in!

Raising Reader Stories: Taya as a Newborn

Raising Readers has touched Mom Lora in different ways - first, as a site coordinator for the Raising Readers program and now as a new Mom.

Watch for posts from Lora and daughter Taya about their experiences with Raising Readers books.

Share your Raising Readers Stories as well by emailing us at info@raisingreaders.org. Send quotes, stories, pictures, or whatever you would like to share about Raising Readers. (Please put 'Raising Readers Stories' in the subject line of the email.)

Taya as a Newborn
Lorna said this about receiving her Birth Bag from Raising Readers:

"It was so nice to receive a Raising Readers bag with some books for Taya in the hospital when she was born to start her own book collection."

Spring Into a Picture Book

If you like the board books and picture books that Raising Readers distributes, you might like to see the over 300 books we recommend in 30+ categories from Alphabet books to Transportation books.

As the daffodils think about blooming, you might share some of the titles we recommend on Spring. Look for them in your local library or bookstore.

New Anthology, New Name

Raising Readers produces an anthology each year of five books by Maine authors and illustrators for five-year-olds in the program. We are currently working on our 6th book created exclusively for Raising Readers. This anthology will be our third with Boston publisher, Candlewick Press.

As you see from the list of titles below, we try and create a title that labels the book a unique treasure (or treasury) for Maine kids.

Will you help us name the new anthology? If we choose your title we will send you the very first copy of the anthology when it arrives in our hands next year. Simply leave us a comment on this post.

Previous Anthology Titles:
1. Raising Readers A Collection of Stories from Maine
2. Raising Readers 5 Stories from Maine
3. Raising Readers Stories for Maine Children
4. Raising Readers Five Stories for Maine Children
5. Books from Maine: A Raising Readers Collection
6. ???

March is Raising Reader Month

The following Proclamation by Maine Governor John Baldacci was read today at the Blaine House by First Lady, Karen Baldacci making March in Maine RAISING READERS MONTH.

Proclamation

Whereas Raising Readers is celebrating its tenth year and has provided over 1.3 million books to Maine children, ages birth to five, at well-child visits with their healthcare providers,

Whereas 166,000 individual Maine children have received books provided by Raising Readers at more than 600,000 well-child visits,

Whereas if it wasn’t for Raising Readers, many Maine children would not have any children’s books in their homes,

Whereas children who are read to are more likely to have the early literacy skills they will need to succeed when they go to school,

Whereas over 1400 healthcare providers in Maine play a key role in encouraging positive brain development in children by encouraging parents to read to their child frequently starting at birth,

Whereas all 30 hospitals in which babies are born and 335 health care offices that provide well-child care and cover the entire State of Maine participate in the program,

Whereas Raising Readers is carried out through the close collaboration of MaineHealth and EMHS, the state’s largest non-profit health systems in order to reach healthcare providers all over the state,

Whereas Raising Readers is completely funded by the Libra Foundation and is the ONLY statewide initiative of its kind in the United States,

Therefore, I, John Baldacci , Governor of Maine, do hereby proclaim March 1 through March 31st as RAISING READERS MONTH.

Two at the Zoo

Many Maine families attending their 18 month well child visit will now receive this fabulous board book full of zoo animals and one great grandpa! Originally a hardcover picture book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Raising Readers asked that it to be published in board book form for durability.

Above is one of our favorite spreads from Two at the Zoo with the boy roaring at the lions and the lions roaring back. We suspect that many Maine 18-month-olds will be roaring at bedtime!

And, of course, many families will receive our previous and equally grand board book, Down on the Farm while supplies last.

Happy Birthday from a Raising Reader Family

Matthew Scholer Reading His Raising Reader Book

My name is Colleen Lunn Scholer and I am a mother of three kids (6, 4, and 1). My step-father, Peter Wood, let me know that Raising Readers is celebrating 10 years this year.

My husband, Aaron, is a pediatrician at Central Maine Pediatrics and we both think very highly of the Raising Readers program. The program actually used a photo of Matthew when he was just a few days old. He was reading with me on our bed.

Mother, Colleen Lunn Scholer reads to Matthew from Raising Reader Book

The story that I share with people is that our family loves to read and, yes, we planned to read to Matthew. But in those first few days, we spent lots of time in our Master bedroom. That wasn't where we had put some of his first books. We didn't realize when we set up his nursery that we'd be in our bedroom so much! But in our room, we had the books that we received from Raising Readers and that was what I reached for. I was amazed at how alert he was and that he was actually enjoying being read to!

Dr. Aaron Scholer Reads to His Children

Today, Matthew is reading everything. He just turned 6 in November and is in Kindergarten. He reads to his sisters, reads the sports section of the newspaper- you name it.

Matthew Reads to Madeline from her 9 month Raising Reader book

I love the program and I will be sad when my daughter, Madeline turns 5 and the program will be over for our family. But I hope we will always be involved.

Peter Wood Reads to His Grandchildren