B4 Literacy Inaugurates...

The 20-Minute-A-Day Campaign

Did you know that, according to a Department of Education survey about family reading habits, that most families read to their children for an average of 20 minutes a day on at least 3 days a week? No matter the ethnicity or income level, American parents and other members of our children's families are on the job! This is great news, but we can do better.

What about reading to your prenates, neonates, and 1- to 6-year old "lap-year" children for 20 minutes everyday? What about having the 7- to 11-year old "gap year" children read to you for 20 minutes every day? Even tweens and teens can get in on the act for 20 minutes every day! Books Before Birth and Beyond is inaugurating a campaign to get families to read together for at least 20 minutes every day.

Let's start the planning now. What works best for your family:

• 1o minutes in the morning with Dad and 10 minutes in the evening with Mom?
• 20 minutes after school with big sister?
• 20 minutes before school by Skype or phone with Aunt Ann?
• 20 minutes after school by Skype or phone with Uncle Bill?
• 10 minutes en route from soccer practice to piano lessons and 10 minutes from piano lessons to home again?

Be creative, and get started today!

President Obama: A Book Reading and Signing at Vertigo Books in College Park, Maryland near Washington, D.C.

Author and Poet Nikki Grimes and Illustrator Bryan Collier have produced a loving tribute to an average family, of mother and son, who share the hope of our new president.

Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope was published by Simon and Schuster last year at the end of a publication cycle of less than one year. The author, Nikki Grimes, calls the book a "crash book". -Research and writing consumed a packed 3 weeks, compared to the usual 3 to 4 months that are required to bring a manuscript to fruition. ...We would never have known.

This book is so lovingly scripted and depicted in language and colors that target the K to 3 set. Yet adults will enjoy its poetry and the end notes that summarize the President's biography. We at Books Before Birth and Beyond highly recommend this title.

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 10

Dear Readers,

Share the reading experience with other members of your family. Alternate in the reading of a book. Though research shows that it is the mother's voice that will be detectable after birth, it is the association of reading with social interaction that sets the stage for postnatal language acquisition. Children acquire languages faster from being spoken to and speaking. Shared reading sets the stage for demonstrated interaction, communication, and thus a nurturing home environment.

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 9

Dear Readers,

On occasions where reading is not feasible, a tape-recorded story can provide a second-best substitute for the mother's voice, but it must be held firmly against the abdomen during the 15- to 20-minute reading period.

Celebrating History and Literacy!

Dear Readers,

Today as we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, we are also about to embark on another great moment in time. Newly elected Barack Obama is only one day away from being sworn in as he world's 44th president.

All eyes are on Washington, DC, share your comments with us about how you are feeling as we embark upon a great day in history for the United States and the world.

B4 Literacy invites you to send us your pictures of your children as they celebrate this moment in history.

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 8

Dear Readers,

Engage in simple movement while reading. Sound communicated through movement creates long sound waves that are detectable by the outer ear (vestibule). The shorter wave sounds that make up language stimulate the functioning of the inner ear (cochlea).

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 7

Dear Readers,

Animate your expressions while reading. This further helps your child develop auditory discrimination of rhythm, tone, and cadence.

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 6

Dear Readers,

Turn off other sources of noise. A quiet setting facilitates your child's "auditory discrimination", that is, differentiating your voice from that of other sounds in the environment.

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 5

Dear Readers,

Books can deal with any subject. For example, a book of number rhymes can stimulate both later literacy and numeracy.

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 4

Dear Readers,

Choose books to read in languages other than English on alternate days or in alternate weeks.

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 3

Dear Readers,

Build a personal home or circulating library of books with text that has rhyming, repetitive sounds. This can be as modest as a dedicated shelf of baby's prenatal books, or an entire section of your home library. It is important to be able to document and/or locate books that contributed to the child's prenatal learning.

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 2

Dear Readers,

B4 Literacy believes that reading should be an activity shared by the entire family.

Enlist the family's help with finding a quiet time and place that is free from distractions to focus on this important activity.
As with most families, one will get the cooperation from any family experience if the entire family shares in every aspect of it.

Poll the family to see where the family should share the reading experience with your unborn child.

Enhance Prenatal Intellectual Development - Tip 1

Dear Readers,


Did you know that research shows that starting as early as 24 to 48 weeks, an infant can understand sounds in the external environment. A consistent program of reading transmits sounds and enhances language development once the child is born.

This is the 1st tip for making the in utero experience a pleasant one for both you and your baby.

1. Choose a quiet time to read to your child from 15 to 20 minutes every day.

2. Download your copy of our Utero Daily Reading Journal. Use this log to keep a record of what books you are reading to your baby in utero.

3. Blog with us and share your special reading time with your utero baby. Tell us if you felt your baby move, how did you feel while reading to your unborn child?

New Year Reading Resolution for Baby

Dear Readers,

B4 Literacy encourages reading to your baby while in utero. We invite you to make a Yearly Reading Resolution for your baby before he/she is born.

New Year's resolutions are commitments that are made by individuals to make a change or reform a habit. Make this resolution for your baby now and start reading to your baby 15 to 20 minutes a day.

Unsure about what to read to your baby, download our Monthly Utero Reading List Monthly Utero Reading Journal and start keeping a daily record of the books you read to your baby while in Utero. (Create Journal and monthly book list.)

You are welcome to email us your favorite book(s) to
b4litnum@gmail.com. We will gladly add them to our Utero Reading List. (Create a Utero Reading List)