Free Books for Genesee County Children from Birth to Age 5
As a community, we want all children to enter kindergarten healthy and ready to read. We can now offer a great opportunity for Genesee County parents to get free books for their children!
Parents of children residing in Genesee County can sign up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a program that sends a book each month to the home of each registered child (birth through five years of age) at no cost to the family. Children of different ages receive different titles; the books are carefully selected and are the children’s to keep.
Reading Together, Growing Together
At just a few months of age, an infant can look at pictures, listen to your voice, and point to objects on cardboard pages. By drawing attention to pictures and associating words with both pictures and the real-world objects, shared reading helps children learn the importance of language.
Children learn to love the sound of language before they even notice the existence of printed words on a page. Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word. When the rhythm and melody of language become a part of a child’s life, learning to read will be as natural as learning to walk and talk.
Even after children learn to read by themselves, it’s still important for you to read aloud together. By reading stories that are on their interest level, but beyond their reading level, you can stretch young readers’ understanding and motivate them to improve their skills.
