Reach Out and Read

Reach Out and Read is a pediatric literacy program we support in partnership with Solano County Library, small health clinics in the county and larger medical groups such as NorthBay Healthcare Foundation,  and Kaiser Permanente. It makes literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric care.

Understanding that the time to start reading to children is in infancy, pediatricians and healthcare providers incorporate books and reading into well baby checkups for children from birth to five years old. During the check up, health-care providers give parents concrete, developmentally appropriate advice about reading, as well as use books as an assessment tool in determining the child's development. At the end of each visit, the child is given a book. 

The Reach Out and Read program model is based on research that shows a connection between the frequency of sharing books with babies, toddlers and young children and enhanced language development. Research also shows that preschoolers need 1000 hours of contact time with literacy activities to be ready for kindergarten. By distributing books through local pediatric offices, Reach Out and Read reaches children (and their parents) earlier than most other reading programs, with dramatic results.

Find out more about Reach Out and Read

Solano County Library Foundation supports Solano County Library implementation, Solano Reads.  This countywide reading program seeks to motivate children and adults alike to read and experience a book together. It gives  all the schools in the Solano County Library cities (Fairfield, Suisun, Rio Vista, Dixon, Vacaville, and Vallejo) and other Library customers a chance to attend an event where a book author speaks at several libraries close to the participating schools and receive free books.