The children’s department of the Jefferson Public Library is co-sponsoring a new nationwide challenge to help young children to read.

Children’s Librarian Terry Clark says the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program encourages parents and caregivers to regularly read outloud to their children. The program’s goal is to have children enter kindergarten with a better understanding of the sounds that letters make, develop a bigger vocabulary and building background knowledge.

“Once they have attained their goal, we hope they continue to read. They can help that process along by being apart of our summer reading programs and the different programs that are at school. We just hope that this is a good start to kick off that knowledge and ability to read because we know that’s so important for lifeskills.”

Any child from birth to five years-old can join the program. Each participant will receive a packet with a book bag, reading logs, bookmarks, a reading pledge and coloring pages. If your child reaches 1,000 books, your child’s name will be on a wall of fame at the library and at every 100 book level, you can receive a prize.

Registration is now open. Call the children’s department at 386-4415 to sign up. The library is co-sponsoring the program with Partnerships 4 Families.