GREENFIELD — The Greenfield Public Library is relaunching its free “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” early childhood literacy program with a kick-off event on Saturday, Nov. 15.
The program, geared toward children who are not yet kindergarten-age, aims to teach “the joy of reading, language and time spent together over books,” according to the Friends of the Greenfield Public Library. The program has not been held since before the pandemic, nor since the library moved into its new building on Main Street.
“We’re relaunching it because it is such an important thing,” said Ellen Lavoie, head of the children’s services at the Greenfield Public Library, “and an approachable program.”
The kick-off event will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will feature bilingual children’s music provided by Tom & Laurie at 10:30 a.m.; a reading by Greenfield children’s book author and illustrator Astrid Sheckels at noon, featuring her new book “Flora and the Jazzers,” followed by a book sale and signing; and coloring, snacks and other activities.
“1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” sign-up tables will be available at the event, but families can also sign up anytime after. Those who sign up on or after Nov. 15 will receive a free bilingual English-Spanish book as well as a book bag, program information and reading trackers. Participants do not need to be residents of Greenfield. Sign-up forms are also available in Spanish.
The goal of reading 1,000 books may sound intimidating, but according to Lavoie, hitting the 1,000 mark is not the real goal, but rather to make reading part of residents’ routines.
“It’s totally doable and I believe anyone can do it,” Lavoie said. “We broke it down … if you read three books a day, it will take you less than a year. Or one book a day would take three years. But the goal is not to do it super fast. The goal is to really kind of make reading part of a family’s daily routine.”
Lavoie encourages parents and guardians to be patient when trying to build reading routines with their children.
“If they’re not interested, then don’t force it,” Lavoie said. “They’re not going to get all of those happy feelings and if it’s not working, that’s OK.”
The library will offer prizes at the 100-book and 500-book mark to help encourage families to stay motivated. Additionally, rereads and attending story times count toward the tallies.
“If your little one insists you read ‘Goodnight Moon’ 20 times in one week, it counts for 20 books read,” Lavoie noted.
Lavoie thanked the Friends of the Greenfield Library, which funds library programming, for helping to keep programs like “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” free.
“This was really kicked off by our wonderful fundraising group that makes all of this possible because they raise the money for us to have fun programs,” Lavoie said.
Lavoie also stressed the benefits of the early childhood literacy program.
“It’s a nice bonding moment,” Lavoie said. “If you sit down and read and your child is into it, they’re going to absorb the warmth from you, the bonding from you, and some words from the story as well. Books have a lot of rich language that we don’t use in everyday conversation, especially with our little ones.”
Sheckels, who will be reading for her new book at the event, echoed the importance of the “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” program.
“I think one of the best gifts parents can give their kids is spending time with them, but also reading with them and spending that quality time together,” Sheckels said. “Reading with little kids helps expand vocabulary, open their eyes to new things, and reading books is great because it’s not screen time and it uses different parts of the brain. … It’s a great way of being able to slow down during very busy lives and doing something quieter, and I think that’s wonderful.”
