With the goal of getting children prepared for school, all the Imperial Valley public libraries in California are teaming up to get children to read 1,000 books before kindergarten. Spanish and bilingual books are one of the major focuses of this initiative.

All five major public library branches in the county are inviting parents and their children for the campaign launch at 6 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Plaza de la Cultura at the Imperial Valley Expo.

“Literacy and the skills that it teaches are critical,” Brawley Public Library librarian Marjo Mello said. “Studies have shown that is very beneficial to read to kids from the day they are born until they won’t let you read to them anymore.”

This is a national initiative that was first adopted in the Valley by the Camarena Memorial Library in Calexico, where the campaign began in 2012.

As the children check out more books to read from their libraries they will get prizes for every 100 books they check out.

Read more here.