Read to Grow crows

Rabbit’s Bedtime a baby bestseller

Read to Grow, which gives a book to every baby born in its coverage area, including in New Haven, recently held an open house to "show off its newly expanded and renovated office and warehouse space," the agency said.
State Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Guilford, shown at right with local children’s author/illustrator Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, Read to Grow Executive Director Susanne Santangelo, and the organization’s founder and board chairwoman, bookseller Roxanne Coady, was on hand to show support for Read to Grow, which is based in Branford.
In the photo, Meyer is holding a copy of Rabbit’s Bedtime, one of several books Wallace has created for Read to Grow. Through the nonprofit’s Books for Babies program, Rabbit’s Bedtime is currently given to every baby born in our eight partner hospitals, located in the New Haven, Bridgeport, New London and Hartford areas, the agency said. Parents receive the book in a "literacy bag" developed to help start them on the road to building their child’s early literacy skills. The bag also includes an informational booklet written by Read to Grow staff that explains the "why and how" of reading aloud to babies. This year, about 50 percent of the state’s newborns, or 21,000 new babies, and their parents, will be served by Read to Grow’s Books for Babies, the agency said.