Reach Out and Read and The Children’s Hospital

Today I visited and read with several of the special children and lovely families served by The Children’s Hospital in Colorado, and I can see that this will be a perfect partnership.

Before any of my books hit the shelves, I designated Children’s to receive a portion of my author proceeds on the sales of TOO PURPLEY! and TOO PICKLEY! In addition, my generous publisher, Bloomsbury, donated boxes of books to the hospital. Thank you to all my wonderful friends there that made that possible.

But perhaps most exciting, is that Children’s is a proud supporter of Reach Out and Read.

From the Reach Out and Read website:

“Reach Out and Read (ROR) is an evidence-based nonprofit organization that promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud.

ROR builds on the unique relationship between parents and medical providers to develop critical early reading skills in children, beginning at 6 months of age. The 3.8 million families served annually by ROR read together more often, and their children enter kindergarten better prepared to succeed, with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills.”

Dr. Amy Shriver heads up the program at Children’s and was there to introduce me. She supplemented my reading and activities with information on literacy – including library card applications, handouts on local libraries and other literacy based activities. But most importantly, Dr. Shriver makes sure books are everywhere in that hospital.

Thank you Dr. Shriver, Marylou Houston and Jen Darling for your strong support of literacy and making my visit to Children’s much bigger than my books. I look forward to visiting again soon.