Join the challenge and sign up to commit to reading aloud to your child under 8 at least 15 minutes a day for 21 days. Beginning Monday, October 2nd and running through October, our library and other organizations are teaming up with Read Aloud 15 MINUTES to promote literacy and reading with your children. 

15 minutes of reading aloud to a child for 21 consecutive days will kick-start a positive reading habit for life. Each year, as many as 3.4 million babies miss out on a basic building block for early brain development; They aren't read aloud to beginning at birth. Reading aloud from birth plays a vital role in a child's brain development, cultivating the language and literacy skills necessary for school and learning readiness. Only 15% of parents read aloud from birth, however and only 8% report doing so for 15 minutes a day, according to a survey conducted by YouGov for Read Aloud 15 MINUTES.

Throughout October, national literacy organization Read aloud 15 MINUTES hopes to change those statistics with its 21 day Challenge. Read Aloud is partnering with children’s book authors and grassroots allies such as United Ways, schools, libraries and health care providers, to challenge parents and caregivers to include 15 minutes of reading aloud in their daily routine for 21 days straight. (www.readaloud.org)