1000 Books Before Kindergarten is a year-round, self-paced early literacy initiative at the Altadena Library District. The program is exactly what it sounds like—families are challenged to read 1000 books together before their young child begins kindergarten. Shared reading is the single most important part of building a strong early literacy foundation, and 1000 Books Before Kindergarten is here to inspire you, build a community of readers, and provide support and information as you raise a reader.

Register by stopping by the Children’s Desk at the Main Library or the Bob Lucas Memorial Branch, or by visiting Beanstack, our online reading tracking platform.

When you sign up, each family gets a kit packed with tracking logs (if you prefer to keep track on paper), a useful guidebook, and other resources to help you on your reading journey!

My child can’t read on their own yet. Can we still sign up?

Absolutely! This program is designed for children who are still developing their pre-literacy skills—that is, for children who aren’t yet reading. The reading you’ll be doing is shared reading—reading aloud between an independent reader (like a parent, grandparent, caregiver, or older sibling) and a pre-literate child.

One thousand books is a lot of books. Is that a feasible goal?

Definitely. While it is meant to be a challenge, 1KB4K is also meant to be a years’ long journey through early literacy skill development. So there’s no rush to finish!

We also did the math on how many days there are before a child starts kindergarten, and we are here to tell you that if you read one book a day for your child’s first five years, you’re going to very nearly complete the program twice over.

My child is already in Kindergarten. Can we sign up?

Congratulations on starting kindergarten! Your child is at a different part of their literacy journey, and there are different goals and benchmarks ahead for you. This program is just for those children who are not yet in kindergarten. But! There are lots of other things that you can do here at the library now that you are in school and on your way to being an independent reader. CLICK HERE for all of our Elementary Student programs.

What kinds of books count towards our 1000?

All of the books! Any of the books! Books that you read together, or books that are read at day care, preschool, story time. You can read 1000 different books, the same book 1000 times (sorry if this is you), or some combination of the two. There is no wrong way to read! The only stipulation that we are placing on your selections is that you actually read together. Book kits, a book with an accompanying CD recording, aren’t what we’re looking for in this program, and neither are animated books on DVD.

If you participate in Summer Reading, all of your books that you read for 1KB4K count towards your Summer Reading goals, too!

Are there any prizes or incentives along the way to keep my child interested?

Oh yes. When you sign up for 1KB4K, you’ll get a packet that comes with your reading logs, as well as a Reader’s Guide. At 100 books read, we have a special 1000 Books tote bag for you (since you’ll be carrying a lot more books around). At 500 books, you get a book of your very own to keep forever. And at 1000 books, you get a certificate of completion and a new book in our children’s department will be dedicated to your accomplishment. And, along the way, at the various 100-book marks, there’s a sweet sheet of stickers waiting for your child.