5 Things That Work

[hero] Mathematica and IMLS just identified the five daily practices that build a reader.

[beat_1] Talking with your child — even before they respond in words — grows the oral comprehension and language development Mathematica identified as core engagement constructs for literacy.

[beat_2] Singing nursery rhymes and silly songs builds phonological awareness, the sound-pattern recognition that research shows storytime programs explicitly target in library programming.

[beat_3] Reading together creates the shared reading routines and home literacy environment that Mathematica found predict both frequency and quality of book engagement.

[beat_4] Writing — scribbling, tracing, inventing letters — develops the emergent literacy skills that unfold from birth to age five, long before formal instruction begins.

[beat_5] Playing with other children provides the social interaction dimension that Mathematica's engagement framework links directly to reading motivation and persistence.

[close] These five practices aren't new — they're the research-backed foundation of Every Child Ready to Read, the public library initiative Mathematica's review shows has shaped early literacy programming nationwide for nearly two decades.

[credit] Source: Mathematica for IMLS, February 2026.

[cta] Read the full Mathematica study (link)