The Cone Issue #1 Spring 2014 | Page 10

Reading Blooms with a Doctor-Recommended Spring Book List National Early Literacy Nonprofit Reach Out and Read Offers a List of Doctor-Recommended Titles for Children. The spring book list, which can be found online here, includes the organization’s top picks for children’s books about spring, along with tips for parents about incorporating reading into springtime activities with their children. We hope that parents and other caring adults will spend time this spring reading to children, an act which will encourage early brain development, language skills, and a love of reading that will last a lifetime. Doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals incorporate Reach Out and Read's evidence-based model into regular pediatric checkups, by advising parents about the importance of reading aloud and giving developmentally-appropriate books to children. They are essentially providing families with “prescriptions to read.” Reach Out and Read begins at the 6-month checkup and continues through age 5, with a special emphasis on children growing up in low-income communities. Families served by Reach Out and Read read together more often, and their children enter kindergarten with larger vocabularies and stronger language skills, better prepared to achieve their potential. To learn more about Reach Out and Read, please visit: http://www.rorlosangeles.org 10 THE CONE - ISSUE #1 - SPRING 2014