Books for Babies to get under way

Newborns get book packets as students raise the money

November 08, 2007

Emily and Benjamin Wernick, twins just 6 months old, are getting an early start learning about the fascinating world around them through reading.

Mom, Melissa, and Dad, Steve, have been reading to them and playing recordings within "earshot" for months before they were even born.

The twins share this experience with their older brother Andrew, who is 2 1/2. In turn, the whole family participates when reading with Andrew, so Benjamin and Emily absorb sounds and concepts that they will encounter as they grow from infancy to early childhood. New books and reading opportunities are exciting events in the Wernick household.

Both parents are employed by Washington County Public Schools. They are keenly aware that, especially at the infant level, reading can improve eye/hand coordination, tracking, posture, vision motor control and hone overall fine motor skills. Bonding with others is fostered through interaction with the reader.

So reading is not just an antidote for baby boredom. Research has shown that reading aloud to children at an early age leads to greater success at reading in later stages of life.

Learning to read effectively has increasingly become an indicator of accomplishment and fulfillment in the modern world.

The book packets presented to each newborn at Washington County Hospital are entirely funded through the enthusiastic reading accomplishments of Washington County elementary students. Books for Babies is a joint venture of the Washington County Reading Council, Washington County Free Library and Washington County Hospital.

For the sixth year in a row, Books for Babies is sponsoring a "Reading to Make Cents" contest in which students obtain sponsors to make pledges for every book they read during National Children's Book Week, Nov. 11-18.

This effort supplies a double benefit encouraging reading both at the very beginning of the babies' lifetime learning experience and during later years of formal instruction in the school system.

Companies in the area donate prizes awarded to three winners at all participating elementary schools as well as four countywide grand prize levels. Each participant gets an individual prize as well.

Elementary school students can sign up sponsors from now through Nov. 18, the end of the contest. Ask a child you know, or call 301-791-5277 for more information.

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