Bethany Wilson, daughter of Mark and Bessy Wilson and granddaughter of Snap and Lynn Lewis and Olin and Debbie Wilson, was the first child in Tift County to complete the “Read 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” program offered through the Tifton-Tift County Public Library.

TIFTON, Ga. — At just three years old, Bethany Wilson is the first child in Tift County to complete the 1,000 Books B4 Kindergarten program at the Tifton-Tift County Public Library.

The Georgia Public Library Service has partnered with libraries to encourage parents to read 1,000 books with their children before age 5.

This program is designed to be a fun and easy way to help young children develop pre-reading skills vital to kindergarten readiness, according to Trina Jones, the Children’s Services Librarian at the TTCPL. She said that the initiative has been going on for about five years in Tifton.

“We have had many parents starting the program by picking up the reading logs and suggested titles list, but so far, only one child has brought in the 1000 titles,” Jones said in an email. “Although we are certain there are many parents out there who are reading and telling stories to their young children. We encourage them to participate in the 1000 Books B4 Kindergarten so that their toddlers and preschoolers will see how important literacy is in their family’s lives. No child is too young to start this program.  Even infants can be read to and respond to stories and songs and rhymes.”

Bethany and her mother, Bessy, read the books together, Bessy said.

“Mommy reads most books, unless we have some memorized,” Bessy said, adding that Bethany, who goes to school at First Methodist Church is working on learning her letters so that she can read herself.

Bessy said that she has been reading to Bethany since she was an infant.

“We started reading and we learned about this program when we lived in Gainesville,” Bessy said. “We started logging our books in March and we were done by August. We read a lot of books but we never realized how many we read. It motivated us to read more.”

Bessy feels reading is important because it builds children’s vocabulary, gives them a head start in school and exposes them to different things.

Bethany said that her favorite books are books about Clifford, the Big Red Dog, particularly “Clifford’s Thanksgiving.”

Bethany also likes the Fancy Nancy book series because she likes learning French words, and she also likes the Amelia Bedelia series because “she does funny things.”

Bethany said that she got a lot of her books from the library.

They check out a wide variety of books, from superheroes and dinosaur books to the girly series like Fancy Nancy, said Bessy.

Interested parents or caregivers can go by the Children’s Desk and pick up one or more 1000 Books B4 Kindergarten book logs (or they can log in online at https://b4.georgialibraries.org/index.php ) and keep track of all the stories read or related to a their child who is 5 years or younger (pre-kindergarten) age.

Follow Eve Copeland on Twitter @EveCopelandTTG.