1,000 Books and Counting

Recently my three-year-old son, Isaiah, reached a milestone: he finished reading 1,000 books.

Well, it would be more accurate to say that my husband and I finished reading well over 1,000 books to him and managed to keep record of 1,000 of them. Nonetheless, this felt like a pretty big deal—one we were proud to celebrate with him. 

THE DETAILS

Have you heard of the program called 1000 Books Before Kindergarten? It’s exactly what it sounds like: a program to track the books you read with your little person as early as birth and up until he or she starts kindergarten. It’s free, and it’s so simple that even a busy parent can do it! I have no skin in the proverbial game about whether you start using the 1000 Books program; I just thought I’d share some related (and unrelated) thoughts about it here since we enjoyed it so much.

All you have to do is start (or continue) reading to your kid and keep track of the book titles. You can track it on paper or on the app. You can read the same book five times in a row, and it counts every single time. That really boosted our progress since Isaiah often enjoys the same books again and again. And again.

A FEW QUESTIONS

As I said, joining the program isn’t a make or break at all. There are tons of ways to enjoy reading with your kids, and tracking it may not be your thing. Totally fine. If you are interested but don’t currently have a little person at home, no worries! Grandparents, babysitters, aunts and uncles, older siblings, or any other reader can pursue the program with a tot they know. Pretty cool! I’ll also be sharing some other reader tidbits along the way, so here we go: who, what, where, how, when, and why.

Who do we report to? Your local library probably participates in this program. Swing by the children’s section and ask at the circulation desk. If they’re anything like my local librarians, they’ll be able to hook you up with information and some reading logs to keep track of your books. If they’re better than my librarians, they’ll also have some personality and will encourage your child when he or she hits each 100-book milestones. 

What’s my motivation here? Well, on the most basic level, your library should provide a little incentive for each 100 books read. Isaiah got to browse a special cart and pick out a book to keep each time he finished 100 books. But really, the gift you’d be giving to the child is way more significant than 10 free books: you’d help instill a lifelong love of reading. That’s how it started for me, and I’m happy to say that Isaiah is already hooked, too. 

Where do you even get 1,000 children’s books? We have, like, a lot of kids books. Some were mine, some were gifts, some we bought used at bookstores or online, and some we bought brand spanking new. Also, my sister is an Usborne Books and More rep, so you can imagine we have a beautiful sampling of their books on our shelves. But we’ve really enjoyed checking out loads of new books from the library. We bring three big cloth bags, stuff them full of 50-60 books, and usually exchange them after just a couple of weeks. Sound unattainable? It’s not. I’ll tell you how. 

How can you fit that much reading into an already-busy day?  Pretty easily. If you think about it, reading just one book a day will get you over 1,000 within three years. And we’re not talking about chapter books here; they’re just picture books. Totally doable. 

When is the best time to read to my kid? We always read to him at bedtime, and we sometimes read to him during downtime, like if the baby is napping or when we’re hanging out on the couch. We also leave alluring little stacks of books on the coffee table, on his nightstand, and in the van, so he’s in the habit of looking through books on his own. It’s super cute to find him poring over a new (or old) book all on his own, and he’ll often bring books to us and ask us to read them. As hard as it is to stop what we’re doing and read it, it’s even harder to turn down such a sweet request.  

Why didn’t I learn about this program sooner? I don’t think this program is very well publicized. I happened to notice a little paper about it on the wall of our library, and I asked about it. We had already read well over 1,000 books to Isaiah without tracking them, but we figured it was better to start late than never. We gave it a shot and finished pretty quickly. Simple, fun, and oh-so-rewarding.

READING IS ALWAYS A WIN

So whether you have a little one at home or have some other small person you hang out with, I can promise you that time spent reading is always time well spent, regardless of whether you join the 1000 Books program. And I can tell you from personal experience that even the most active kids love stories. Even a theoretical six-year-old whose teacher suggests holding her back for another round of kindergarten and putting her on Ritalin to calm her down—even a child like that can learn to sit still for stories. Theoretically. 

And she can fall so deeply in love with books that she grows up to write blog posts about them. 

I guess anything can happen when you read. 

Want to find out more? Visit the website at 1000booksbeforekindergarten.org.