Read 1,000 books before kindergarten?

One mom is encouraging other parents to take up the reading challenge Angela Zeigerbacher lets her daughter Anja, 3, select some of her favorite books at A Novel Concept in downtown Lansing on Saturday.

LANSING, Mich. – Angela Zeigerbacher was well aware of the value of reading to young children, but she was taken aback when the pediatrician who had helped deliver her daughter earlier that day suggested she start reading to her right away.

“And I was kind of like, ‘What do you read to a newborn?’ ... and the pediatrician said, ‘Anything’.”

When Zeigerbacher and her husband, Brett, brought Anja home to East Lansing from the hospital a few days later in the summer of 2020, she dug through boxes of books from her childhood. The couple began reading to Anja every night before bed.

Zeigerbacher is three years into the “1,000 books before kindergarten” challenge with Anja. The challenge is a nationwide effort by educators and advocates to encourage early childhood literacy and lifelong reading. The family has read 762 books together so far.

Zeigerbacher is hoping to expand the effort and increase the love of reading for children in the Lansing area.

One of her close friends, Elise Jajuga, manages A Novel Concept, a bookstore in downtown Lansing. Zeigerbacher approached her with an idea − to curate a subscription box for children’s books for Lansing area families.

“It’s important to get books not just in the hands of kids at school, but in their hands at home,” Zeigerbacher said.

‘There’s so much competing for kids’ attention’

Zeigerbacher feels that reading, especially for young children, is not as emphasized or encouraged as it was when she was a kid, and she wanted to make reading fun for her daughter and other children her age. She also wanted to emphasize diverse voices in her curation, and include children’s books that aren’t considered as popular.

Some of Zeigerbacher and her daughter’s favorites are “Pirate Stew” and “Blueberry Girl” by Neil Gaiman, “Rosie Revere Engineer” by Andrea Beaty and even a chapter book series: “The Kingdom of Wrenly” by Jordan Quinn.

“There’s so much competing for kids’ attention in today’s world,” she said. “Even from when I was a kid, I feel like there’s so many more TV shows and games and toys and so why not make it a book box subscription, but make it really fun and make kids excited to open it every quarter?”

Zeigerbacher said she could tell that Anja was beginning to understand and show a real interest in books around the age of six months.

“Even as young as six months old, she’d be turning pages in books, and then shortly after that, I would say words like ‘apple’, and she’d point to those in the books before she could even form those words herself.”

She said she’d researched how children’s language skills develop before having her daughter, and noted that children’s understanding of language develops before they’re able to express themselves. For Zeigerbacher, reading with her daughter has contributed to Anja’s ability to express herself and strengthened the communication and bond between them.

‘You have to be open-minded’

Although the “1,000 books before kindergarten” doesn’t require all the books be different, Zeigerbacher set out to read Anja 1,000 different books, and place an emphasis on diverse voices, including books in other languages.

One of Anja’s favorite books is written entirely in German. The couple both have German heritage, although neither is completely fluent.

“Even if we’re not pronouncing all the words 100% correctly, we’re exposing her to another language.” Zeigerbacher said. “And this might make her more empathetic to children she meets who don’t have English as their first language because she’ll understand learning another language.”

For parents wanting to embark on this challenge with their children, or even just start reading more with them, Zeigerbacher recommends letting the child take the lead.

“You have to be open-minded and just pick up different titles,” she said. “I’ll let my daughter grab titles and I have no idea what the book is but maybe we find our next favorite book that way.”

It’s never too late to make reading a habit for your family either, Zeigerbacher said. Even taking five or ten minutes to read before bed can make a difference, even for older children.

“Even when I was older and I was reading independently, it was really fun to sit down with my parents or my sisters and read a chapter book together,” she said. “What’s really fun about books is when you share that journey with somebody else, and you have somebody to talk to about it.”

Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@lsj.com, or follow her on X @sarahmatwood