The Story of raising readers

raising readers is based on a very simple idea: reading books to very young children actually builds brain cells. Reading to babies and young children was shown to stimulate formation of neural pathways, through exposure to colors, sounds and happy emotions. Studies showed that with the proper stimulation, babies were able to learn skills that would ultimately enable them to be ready to learn upon entering school.

In 2000, Owen Wells, CEO of the Libra Board of Trustees set out to provide Maine children with this brain-building stimulation, in the form of high-quality children's literature. Encouraged by Former First Lady Barbara Bush, a strong literacy advocate, Libra approached the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center and Maine Medical Center's parent organization, MaineHealth, with a novel idea: distributing the books at regularly-scheduled well-child visits with healthcare providers, who could provide advice and counsel to parents about the importance of regular reading to their babies and toddlers.

Through a successful collaboration between MaineHealth and EMHS (Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems), the program has been implemented statewide. Libra's vision was that all Maine families, regardless of economic status, would receive not only books, but information about the relationship between reading aloud and becoming "learning ready" for kindergarten and beyond.

Now in its eighth year, raising readers distributes over 160,000 book a year to Maine children.