First Lady of Ohio Fran DeWine reads to children at Toledo’s Main Library
The visit was to promote the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library.
TOLEDO, Ohio — Literacy: it’s especially important for kids who will spend the rest of their life reading, so getting an early start can make all the difference. That is why the state of Ohio partnered with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library to create the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library, which provides kids with one free book per month until their 5th birthday. The books are sent via the mail, and all children are eligible.
So today, First Lady of Ohio Fran DeWine read to children at the Main Library Branch in downtown Toledo, to promote the opportunity to families.
“The first books are for little children and then they get a little more advanced,” said First Lady of Ohio Fran DeWine. “A lot of our birthing hospitals are signing the kids up the day they’re born, which I think is wonderful. Because then they’ll get 60 books before they turn 5-years-old.”
The First Lady adds that the majority of a baby’s brain is developed before they turn 5, making this program invaluable.
“We know a baby’s brain is 80% developed by the time they’re 3-years-old, so it’s really important that we take advantage of those early years,” she explained. “There’s just so many reasons why we think that this is a good idea to get these books in the hands of kids early.”
To sign your little one up for the program, visit ohioimaginationlibrary.org/subscribe. And for the record, the kids enjoyed a reading of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar.’
