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Early childhood literacy promotion remains an important component of educational work
Libraries in the Groß-Gerau district have received new reading starter kits for children aged three and up. At the Groß-Gerau city library on Tuesday, December 2nd, District Administrator Thomas Will, together with library director Pamela Baer, inspected the newly arrived stock. The kits contain a cloth bag with a picture book and a multilingual parent's booklet with reading tips for everyday family life, and are now being distributed to parents and children.
The nationwide program "Reading Start 1-2-3" by the Reading Foundation and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. The project aims to support families with age-appropriate book gifts over several years. While the sets for one- and two-year-old children are distributed at participating pediatricians' offices, families with three-year-old children receive their Reading Start set free of charge at participating libraries.
However, the program is facing its end: the distribution of the kits is expected to cease at the end of 2026. District Administrator Will strongly criticized this development. He stated that promoting reading is an indispensable component of early childhood education – contact with books, reading aloud together, and understanding texts are fundamental to the further educational path of young people.
The libraries in the district also see the program as an important part of their work. Many institutions therefore participate in the nationwide program and regularly distribute reading starter kits to families.
This year, the following libraries received reading start sets:
Biebesheim am Rhein municipal library, Bischofsheim library, Klein-Gerau local branch library, Worfelden local branch library, Gernsheim city library, St. Maria Magdalena Gernsheim Catholic Public Library, Groß-Gerau city library, Kelsterbach city and school library, Mörfelden city library, Walldorf city library, Nauheim Schwarzbachschule library, Raunheim media center, Riedstadt municipal library, and the St. Bonifatius Catholic Public Library in Goddelau.
Further information about the program can be found at:
https://www.lesestart.de/
(Gross-Gerau district-Red/PSGG)
Featured image. District Administrator Thomas Will in conversation with Pamela Baer, head of the Groß-Gerau municipal library. Photo: Groß-Gerau District Administration
