Next, children need to have lots of their own books at home to read. The Public Library is another important place for children to get to know. According to some reading researchers, young children need to have 1000 books read to them before they reach kindergarten in order to provide a good foundation in the pre-reading skills of listening, viewing, understanding how books work, and hearing the language of storybooks. Children who read succeed. The most significant part of a child's mental growth between the ages of three and seven is the ability to imagine.
Books boost imagination.
Our popular television culture degrades imagination. TV and video are now our national babysitters. But a young child's growing mind needs active play and live conversation. Television puts a child into what neurologists call the passive Alpha state. A child cannot learn from screens because programs are meant to sell products, not to teach.