Join us this Sept 12-22, 2022 in the third annual Babies With Books Read-a-thon to support NICU families and celebrate shared reading!
The BWB Read-a-thon is a friendly reading competition between NICUs to encourage reading with babies in the NICU for its many benefits to babies and families. This read-a-thon (Sept 12-22, 2022) builds upon last year's read-a-thon in which 101 NICUs participated (159% increase from the inaugural 2020 read-a-thon) and there were a total of 17,292 sessions of reading to babies over the nine day period (182% increase from 2020).
There is no cost to joining this NICU read-a-thon and hospitals that cannot provide books to their families can still participate! BWB will provide you with information and suggestions that make hosting a read-a-thon easy, fun, and successful. Participating hospitals receive BWB's read-a-thon process guide with step-by-step guidelines for organizing and implementing the read-a-thon. Our guide includes materials and resources such as:
Family information on how and why to read in the NICU
Healthcare Provider information on NICU reading rationale
Suggestions for engaging families and healthcare providers in read-a-thon
Templated materials to promote read-a-thon
Templated reading tracking sheets
Templated data collection sheets
Books lists in multiple languages, including easy access to free, online books
Learn more about how reading aloud with babies beginning in the NICU supports infant brain development, promotes family bonding, and reduces stress here.
For more information on the host organization, visit
babieswithbooks.org.
For any questions or to discuss the read-a-thon, please contact Benjamin Olshin at benjamin.olshin@babieswithbooks.org.