Ever wonder how we choose our books?

The raising readers Book Committee is made up of lots of people who know and love children's books: parents, early childhood educators, daycare providers, kindergarten teachers, physicians, nurses, librarians, and many other people who work in literacy-related fields.

Once a year they all get together for a full day and review and rate a new slate of chldren's books and choose a book for each of the well-child visit categories: birth, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 15 months, 18 months, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years and 5 years.

An important part of their job is to not only choose books which are age and developmentally appropriate for each age category, but that the books chosen promote early literacy skill development and that many of the stories represent children of various cultures.

Within the final collection, we try to ensure that within each year's collection, there are books which have the following criteria: alphabet and number books to encourage letter recognition; books with pictures of babies; a peek-a-boo book to stimulate brain development; color books and books with different art types; a classic picture book, a" quiet" book for bedtime, and some fun, interactive books with word or phrase repetition for older toddlers.