New Reading by 9 Guide Focuses on ‘The First 5 Years’

The Los Angeles Times has released its annual Reading by 9 resource guide. Produced in both English and Spanish, the guide is aimed at helping parents and educators support young children in developing their reading and literacy skills.

This year’s edition, “The First 5 Years: A Guide to Early Learning,” spotlights articles, activities, book recommendations and more for parents and educators of children ages 0-5.

It was created through the support of the Ballmer Group and features contributions from the Los Angeles Public Library, First 5 LA, Raising a Reader, Zero to Three, Sprout Speech and Language Pathology, and Read to a Child.

“This year, we wanted to focus specifically on children 0-5 years old because that’s an important time for them to develop pre-reading skills,” said Rebecca Castillo, The Times’ Reading by 9 program lead. “Even though children that age can’t read yet, there is a lot parents and educators can do to help them get there, like sing to them and play with them.”

“It’s never too early to instill a love for reading,” wrote Staff Writer Jenny Gold and Audience Engagement Editor Kate Sequeira in an introduction. “Books foster imagination and open portals to new worlds beyond what a child can fathom.”

In addition to traditional book recommendations, the guide has been expanded this year to include multimedia resources, a Q&A section and featured articles from numerous early education experts.

Learn more about the Reading by 9 literacy initiative and download the guide here.