Free Books Available To Southington Children This Friday

Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Local children looking to do some late-summer reading before school starts next week can get some free reading material later this week.

The Read to Grow literacy initiative and the Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington are partnering on the third annual Southington Summer Bookmobile Tour.

They will be spending the day distributing books to children in Southington on Friday, Aug. 22, at two stops in town that day.

Both stops of this Bookmobile tour are free and open to the public.

Each stop will last a few hours, giving children and families the chance to board the
Bookmobile to choose a new book to take home with them.

The locations of these stops are:

• 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Margaret Griffin Child Development Center in the lower parking lot off Eden Avenue behind Derynoski Elementary School

• 3 to 6 p.m. at the Southington Farmers Market, 75 N. Main St., Southington (Southington Town Green).

“We are thrilled to bring our Bookmobile back to wonderful places that serve children in Southington,” said Read to Grow Executive Director Suzannah Holsenbeck. “It’s especially exciting to have two different stops that are each open to the public. Read to Grow is always looking for new areas to serve, and the Bookmobile provides the vehicle, literally and figuratively, to do so.”

Joanne C. Kelleher, executive director of the Early Childhood Collective of Southington, agreed.

“We are excited to share this opportunity to build a home library with families in town. The
ECCS is also promoting the free Sparkler mobile app as a resource for caregivers of children
under five in conjunction with these community events,” said Kelleher.

"We look forward to working with the Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington, and
welcoming the families in our center, as well as the community, to join us for a visit from the
Read to Grow Bookmobile,” added Emily Napp, executive director of the Margaret Griffin
Child Development Center.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for children to be gifted a book and to bring it home to share with their family. The learning will then continue in the children's homes with an opportunity to promote and share literacy development, engaging conversations, and valuable family time for our youngest learners and their caretakers."

Now in its 25th year, Read to Grow is a literacy nonprofit that operates statewide, providing
more than 120,000 books a year to children and families. The Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington is a group of folks invested in the growth, development, and academic
success of young children in Southington.