1,000 Books Before Kindergarten

There is no better gift you can give your child than snuggling up and reading aloud to him or her every day. Reading 1,000 books to your baby, toddler, or pre-schooler may sound daunting, but this program allows you to set your own pace while giving your child a jump start to their education. The only criteria is to complete 1,000 books before the child enters kindergarten. If you read just 1 book a day, you will finish in 3 years…if you read 3 books a day, you can finish in just 1 year!

Here’s how to get started:

1. Register your child at any ARLS location and get a program booklet and a fish that your child will display in a pool at their library and use to keep track of and show off their progress by adding scales to the fish for every 100 books they read.
2. Check out books from your library and READ! Write the titles in the log to keep track of your progress. If you read the same book more than once, you may count it each time. Books read by grandparents, a babysitter, or a sibling count…and stories read at Library Story Time count too!
3. When you finish the first 100 books, bring your booklet to the library. Your child will receive a scale sticker for his or her fish and a “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” tote bag.
4. At 500 books your child receives a free prize book.
5. Then just keep reading! For every 100 books completed, you will get another scale sticker for your fish. At the completion of 1,000 books, your child receives a certificate and a medal.