Youth Department

Books & Baby Bumps

Books & Baby Bumps is a pre-birth early literacy program designed to help families start a reading ritual before the baby arrives.

How to Participate:

  1. Sign up at the library or at a partnering organization.
  2. Receive your first free book and your log sheet/bookmark.
  3. Read to your belly and log it.
  4. Visit the library.
  5. Turn in the log sheet/bookmark when the back is full for a free board book.

Receive a free book when beginning the program to help start your reading practice:

Bedtime Book for Bump by Ruth Symons.

This gorgeously presented keepsake is the perfect gift for expectant parents, enabling moms- and dads-to-be to bond with their unborn baby. By the third trimester your baby's ears are ready to hear! Featuring expert insights, a gentle rhyme to read to bump, beautiful illustrations and pages to personalize. With an introduction by Dr. Kimberley Bennett (@thepsychologistschild) about reading to children, even before they are born, expectant parents will learn the importance of sound and rhythm for their child's development in utero. There are pages to personalize, with a letter to be written to baby ahead of their birth and a page to record their name, weight, and date of birth, making this book a treasured heirloom to pass on to the child. To the back of the book is a secure envelope where parents can keep scan photos and other treasured items. The rhyming text that follows is a beautiful, lyrical poem which touches on the emotions of pregnancy and the hopes and dreams of life with a new child. Parents are encouraged to read the poem aloud to bump, creating a loving, bonding routine which enables the unborn baby to become familiar with their parents' voice - whether they are the birthing parent, or not. The poem is accompanied by the stunning illustrations of Anneli Bray, featuring parent and baby animals, curled up together...Provided by publisher.

Funding Provided by the Cedar Falls Community Foundation: Kathryn Ray Fund.

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