Local Child Awarded After Completing 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Library Program

Ms. Meg loves when Willow and her mom, Juli LeCates, visit the Sharon Springs Free Library. “Hi Ms. Meghan,” calls an excited Willow. Ms. Meg shared that Willow and Juli, “Always brighten up my day! This is what it’s all about; getting to hang out and play and learning together.” LeCates shared Ms. Meg is the first name outside of family members’ that Willow says. Ms. Meg can be heard encouraging Willow’s play, observations, and dialogue with a, “Good job, Willow,” and Willow and Ms. Meg share frequent laughs, painting the perfect picture of the welcoming, familiar, and full-experience community libraries offer for kids.

Willow reading in a perfect sing-song rhythm about little monkeys jumping on the bed to Ms. Meg, and stacking an impressive pile of looked-through books that Ms. Meg noticed was growing taller than her!

Photo provided by Willow’s mother, Juli LeCates. Willow is surrounded by her book collection and 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program awards (certificate & stuffed cow). LeCates plans to laminate the certificate and the cow stuffie joined Willow’s bedtime crew.

The Little Sister is the 1,000th book read to Willow by her Grammy to complete the program. Melissa Jenkins, who self-published this book available on Amazon, read it to Willow from PA through Facetime. One book review from Susan Lujan reads, “5 out of 5 stars Must Read! This book is fantastic. Everyone knows someone who has been diagnosed “on the spectrum”. Do yourself a favor and buy this book for a better understanding of the beauty of our differences. Kudos to the author.”

SHARON SPRINGS — One month before Willow turned 2 years old in July, her mom, Juli LeCates, excitedly tracked accomplishing the thousandth book in their 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program goal. Then, Sharon Springs Free Library Director Meghan Keaney (Ms. Meg), presented Willow with a certificate and stuffed cow that kids receive upon completing the program.

 The first and last books Willow’s family read with her for the program were special occasions. Book 1 read in January called Sidekicks, was written and illustrated by LeCates. While book 1,000 called, The Little Sister, was written, self-published (available on Amazon), and read by Willow’s grandmother, Melissa Jenkins.

Willow especially responded to books that correspond with her interests; books meant to be sung like SNUGGLE PUPPY and BABY CAKES, as well as BUSY BEAR books and anything to do with animals. LeCates asked Willow, “What does a cow say?” Willow responded, “Moo, moo!” “What does an owl say? “Hoo, hoo!” “What does a crab do?” “This, this,” as Willow’s hands made claw shapes she opened and closed.

LeCates said, “We started reading with her as soon as she was born,” and attributes Willow knowing so many words to reading. Willow started talking early and her first word after “Mama” and “Dada” was “Banana.”

 “A. b, c, d, e, f, g…” sang Willow, and her mom confirmed Willow already knows her whole alphabet, counts up to 20, identifies colors, and surprises her with how quick she is with puzzles.

“I’m so happy that somebody thought of this program and is encouraging people,” expressed LeCates. “There’s not a lot of wholesome things like this. It’s a free program to help you teach your kids. All the best for whoever made this program. I couldn’t say enough good things about it!”

Mohawk Valley Library System (MVLS) Public Services Consultant, Beth Rienti, said that one of the first things she did when starting her position in May 2023 was relaunching this program (that’s organized by a non-profit) with new supporting materials. Rienti shared, “To my knowledge, Willow is the only child in Schoharie County to complete the program.  We hope she will be the first of many!  Any child in one of our member libraries (we support public libraries in Fulton, Montgomery, Schenectady and Schoharie counties) is welcome to join the program. Caregivers can sign up any child from birth until they start kindergarten.” 

Rienti confirmed many research studies have shown, “The best thing a parent can do to prepare their child for future school success is to read to them and talk to them, even before they are able to talk back.  Children who are read to regularly gain many benefits, becoming familiar with language patterns, and gaining exposure to more vocabulary words and background knowledge, as well as learning the mechanics about how books work.  All of this sets children up to be more successful at learning to read when they start school, and puts them on a solid path to learning throughout their school years and beyond.” And Rienti said, “Reading three books per day will complete the program in less than a year, so even if you don't start reading with your newborn, it's not too late to join the program and reap the benefits with toddlers or preschoolers.”

LeCates has observed this reading challenge helping Willow in her developmental years by coming across many themes in books and solidifying those themes with repetition. 

Beanstack is a corresponding app that helps you track how many books you’ve read as you work your way to 1,000. If you get behind on tracking, it allows you to backlog, and it also shows additional information like statistics, highlights, author birthdays and updates, and opportunities for tracking reading per minute, per page, and to take part in additional reading challenges. For example, you could track a STEM book reading challenge while also tracking 1000 Books Before Kindergarten reading. In houses with multiple children, each can have their own account for separate tracking, and it gives encouraging notifications when you are on a streak.

When you sign up for the program you also receive a chart and stickers to add to it to celebrate each 100-book milestone.

LeCates and many moms who visit the library with multiple kids find the prepacked tote bags especially convenient. Each tote bag includes a program guide, bookmark, and 10 picture books or 5 board books. Books in the bags have the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten stickers on them, but Ms. Meg confirmed you don’t have to be participating in the program to borrow the bags. Bag selections get rotated about every 2 months and the way books are chosen for the tote bags Rienti explained, “MVLS is lucky to receive hundreds of pre-published books from publishing houses each year.  We choose books that are well-suited for multiple readings and geared toward babies and toddlers.”

Completing the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program was just the beginning for Willow and her family. LeCates explained that reading the same book more than once still counts in the program, so their new goal is reading 1,000 more books, but this time will be all books she hasn’t read yet with no repeating. So far, they have completed 476 toward their new challenge goal and are focusing on books about shapes, and Willow recently started enjoying search and find books. Even after reading 6 books a night, Willow will ask for, “More books!”

More information on the program can be found at www.1000booksbeforekindergarten.org and at www.mvls.info/1000-books-before-kindergarten . Stop by your local library to sign your children up. Sharon Springs Free Library is located at 129 Main Street and you can follow them on Facebook and their website for hours and upcoming events. Mrs. Fralick hosts Storytime for early readers and their families every Thursday from 10 to 11 AM.

They also have sheets available with information and a QR code (Imaginationlibrary.com) about Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Schoharie County that gifts free books to kids up to age 5.