Impacting the lives of children across the nation, Reach Out and Read pediatricians distributed nearly 1.5 million free books during the summer of 2011.
Recognized by the New York Times and MSNBC, Reach Out and Read is an early literacy initiative that prepares America’s youngest children to succeed in school by partnering with doctors to prescribe books and encourage families to read together.
During an 80-day period, 28,000 pediatricians and medical providers handed out an average of 25,600 books per day — giving out more books per day than the crowd capacity at Madison Square Garden.
Reach Out and Read’s long-term goal is to ensure every child in America enters kindergarten ready to learn.
“Research shows that if you intervene in the first five years of life and partner with parents, you dramatically can improve the early literacy skills of a child, putting him or her on the track for success in school and life,” said former Obama advisor and Reach Out and Read CEO Earl Martin Phalen. “We are thrilled that our Summer of a Million Books Campaign helped bring… (Click for full release.)
