Books At Birth

with the choice of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
or Mama, Mama by Jean Marzollo

A partnership project of:
Family Reading Partnership
Cayuga Medical Center
Tompkins Trust Company

Overview

Every new baby born at our local hospital, the Cayuga Medical Center, receives a new sturdy board book at birth. The book includes a special label with a place for the baby's name and date of birth and a wish for "many hours of read-aloud pleasure." Books tucked in a bright red canvas book bag with a congratulations card are presented to families by a nurse when they are discharged. Books at Birth is also explained in a letter included in the hospital's Maternity Notebook, given to all mothers. The letter states that "reading to your baby feeds a growing mind the way food feeds a growing body."

Objectives

• Place books into families' homes, increasing book ownership.
• Let families know that it's never too early to start reading aloud to their babies.
• Let families know the importance and pleasure of reading to babies: Reading aloud to babies creates a special bond between parent and child, and reading aloud to children now will help children have success learning to read later on.
• Start a new community book tradition by celebrating the birth of the baby, one of the most joyous family events, with a book.
• Provide our community's families with a common book experience that crosses ethnic and socioeconomic lines.

The Book

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a well-known story about growth and change. A caterpillar, depicted in bright hand-colored paper collage, hatches from a tiny egg. After eating his way through the book (actually leaving holes in the pages!) he changes into a beautiful butterfly. As Eric Carle says, "Ultimately this story is about hope; every living thing will grow up, be beautiful, and unfold its talents." The board version of this book is used as a gift to babies so that the book can be saved as a special memento from childhood.

Parents have the choice of another book, Mama, Mama by Jean Marzollo for their newborn. This board book shows mother animals and their infants rendered in beautiful illustrations accompanied by simple text describing the loving ways parents interact with babies.

Project Background

This was our first community partnership around books. In 1995, when Brigid Hubberman (now Director of the Family Reading Partnership) was working at federally funded family-wellness (WIC) sites through a local literacy program, she was struck by how easy it was to spot the children (even two-year-olds!) who had been read to beginning at birth. Wanting to get out the message that "it is never too early to start reading to babies," she thought that a book could be given at birth from the hospital. This was not a new concept but, as often is the case, this great idea was incubating in many places around the United States at once. Other communities were giving out books at birth, and it was a project that our local hospital enthusiastically wanted to adopt, too.

Project Partners

A local bank, the Tompkins Trust Company, has not only funded the book since the project's inception, but thanks us for the opportunity to contribute to the community in such a meaningful way. The bookplate label that is placed inside of each book given to families acknowledges the partners in the project and personalizes the book. Volunteers put the bookplates in each book and deliver them with the red book bags to our hospital, the Cayuga Medical Center.

The Role of the Family Reading Partnership

Our role in this community literacy collaboration is ordering books, coordinating the wrapping and delivery of books, and maintaining good lines of communication between the primary partners in the project. We also conduct evaluations and make improvements as necessary.

Measures of Success

The many letters of thanks we receive each year from parents illustrate the impact this program has on creating a culture of literacy in our community.

• From a Headstart mother: "As we drove home from the hospital with the new baby, my four-year-old son unwrapped the book and 'read' it to his new baby brother all the way home. That special memory will be with us, and with him, for life."
• From a mother at WIC (nutrition program for low-income families): "When my daughter was born, we were given a book as a gift at the hospital. I honestly never thought that you would read to babies. I went out and got some more books right away. I really believe that she loves books so much today because we began at birth.

Replication

The Family Reading Partnership is happy to have you replicate Books at Birth. We only ask that you credit the Family Reading Partnership, and then send us information about your project and a copy of any media coverage.