Wouldn’t you love for your young child to receive a free book in the mail once a month! Prince George’s County, MD, a diverse suburb of Washington, DC, has approximately 60,000 children under the age of five. The Prince George’s County Memorial Library System, (PGCMLS) is dedicated to ensuring that each of these children enters kindergarten ready to read. County Executive, Rushern L. Baker III selected PGCMLS to sponsor the Ready 2 Read Books from Birth Program to improve our county’s educational outcomes. Mr. Baker, with full support from the County Council, increased the Library budget to make Books from Birth possible. We are excited and honored to offer a program in conjunction with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. It is designed to encourage literacy and kindergarten readiness by getting books into the hands of every young child in the county. By simply registering their young child on our website, parents/guardians are growing their child’s personal library, adding a new free book each month. It is open to all children living in the county under the age of five. We have a goal of registering 7,200 children by July 2018 and have over 3,200 signed up as of the beginning of November!
The books are selected by professionals and care is taken that the books sent remain age-appropriate as the child gets older. Every child receives The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper as their welcome book, and Ready for Kindergarten by Nancy Carlson as their graduation book. Check out Imagination Library and consider becoming becoming a part of spreading the love of books to all of the children in your area!
