Saturday, October 14, 2023, starting at 10:30am Dougherty County Public Library will be holding a kick-off party to relaunch the “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” program in the Event Center at the Northwest Library, 2507 Dawson Road, Albany, GA. 

The goal of “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” is to   1. Promote reading for newborns, infants, and toddlers and 2. Encourage parent and child bonding through reading.

“1,000 books sound like a large amount” says Dougherty County Public Library’s Assistant Director Christina Shepherd. “But when you break it down to just a book a night you have 1,095 books in three years-and they do not have to be 1,095 different books, it is ok to re-read books.”

Lindsey Baker, Youth Services Manager at Dougherty County Public Library, concurs: "When you read with your child, you are giving them the gift of learning and exploration while also preparing them to succeed in literacy. It creates a bond and lays the foundation for life-long learning. We want children to flourish as readers when they get to Kindergarten and 1000 Books before Kindergarten is the way you start." 

Dougherty County is making the program easy to track using an app called Beanstack.  You do not have to have a library card to start logging books.  The library is also going to reward the caregivers and children with incentives when certain goals are met.  The program is free, and the books do not necessarily have to be library books.