Early Childhood Literacy

Advocacy and Access

  • For two decades, Books for Babies, an initiative of ALA’s United for Libraries, has provided parents of newborns with resources to engage in early literacy activities with their infants. The kits, available in English and Spanish, include a board book, an application for the child’s first library card, and informational brochures.
  • The importance of early literacy to success in life is well documented; statements and studies to that effect can be found in Power Guide for Successful Advocacy. (See page 27 in Appendix A.) More information on this subject is available on United for Libraries’ Early Literacy page.
  • The Babies Need Words Every Day: Talk, Read, Sing, Play public awareness campaign, launched by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), promotes the importance of parent and caregiver communication with babies. Free, customizable resources include posters with simple ideas for boosting children’s language and a book list brochure to support concept and language acquisition.
  • On the ALSC blog:

We Need Diverse Books, a non-profit that “advocates essential changes in the publishing industry” and is helping to “produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.” Their Booktalking Kit is a tool for educators, library workers, and booksellers to booktalk “lesser-known books that are about diverse characters and/or written by diverse authors.”

Book Lists