The Book Club and Parent Guide

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2021

The Children’s Trust, in collaboration with the Miami-Dade Family Learning Partnership, Miami-Dade County Community Action and Human Services' Head Start (Miami-Dade County Head Start), and other community organizations have come together to bring more developmentally-appropriate books into the homes of families in Miami-Dade County and to bridge the achievement gap of children entering kindergarten. The Children’s Trust Book Club is a program designed to provide free books and parent guides to children from infants to age 5 living in Miami-Dade County. Book Club members receive a new book every month in English or Spanish along with a Parent Guide with activities, information, and suggestions about how to share the book with their children. Books include classics, award-winners, and picture books to engage even our youngest “readers.” All books are selected specifically to help children develop their early reading skills for school readiness and for maximum enjoyment with their families. Through its expertise in early childhood development, the Miami-Dade County Head Start participates in the selection of books for infants to three-year olds, and creates the Parent Guides for these books using family-friendly language and include simple activities, information, and suggestions about how to parents can share the book with their children. The guides are specifically written to address a variety of developmental domains with simple, easy to follow instructions. The parent guides focus on: language and literacy, social and emotional development, physical development and cognitive development. Each month the guide provides information on how to share the book, the kinds of questions to engage readers and activities that support at least two of the developmental domains.