CLEVELAND, Ohio (WEWS) — It’s a book so many people know and love — "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."

For 5-year-old Zion Crenshaw, the book is a much-needed escape.

“It’s the little things that make people happy,” said mom Shawanna Crenshaw.

Her six children and foster children are all patients at MetroHealth in Cleveland, Ohio.

She brought Zion in for his wellness check and shots.

The books in the waiting room and the books handed to him by the doctor when he leaves make a big difference.

“If they’re getting a shot, they’re sitting there reading a book, it relaxes my children,” Shawanna said. “So I’m glad the books are there.”

They’re in the doctor's office because of a national nonprofit called Reach Out and Read, founded in 1989 by Dr. Robert Needleman, a physician at MetroHealth.

“He thought about, 'What if we put books in the waiting room, what would happen?' And the books disappeared,” explained Lynn Foran, executive director of Reach Out and Read Greater Cleveland.

So from there, they started including them in child wellness checks.

More than 200 doctors and nurse practitioners across nearly 40 locations in greater Cleveland are trained in early literacy by Reach Out and Read.

There are books in the waiting room, exam rooms, and stacks and stacks of books, free to grab on your way out.

Pediatrician Dr. Anna Winfield has been part of the program for decades. She said the improvements she sees are remarkable.

“Ten years ago, I would give people a book and they would say, ‘That’s the only book I have at home’ and now you give them books and they say, ‘Oh I have plenty of books’ — but they still need more!” Winfield said.

Research shows reaching kids at an early age helps with kindergarten readiness, parental engagement, and is even beneficial for maternal well-being.

Book "prescriptions" detailing specific reading material can even help parents feel more at ease.

“I think a lot of our parents who are at higher risk for low literacy get nervous about reading with their kids because they’re not confident in their own skills,” Winfield explained. “And if you show them what to do with the book and their kid, their eyes kind of light up.”

The key to Reach Out and Read’s success has been rolling the importance of literacy into well-child visits, talking about it at the same level as safe sleep and good nutrition, and partnering with doctors who are trusted by families.

“They’re the messengers,” Foran said. “And parents, as you know being a mom of young children, you look to their advice and guidance to help you support the healthy development of your child.”

Reach Out and Read targets children six months to 5 years old. It has reached more than 4.2 million children across the country

This story was originally reported by Homa Bash on news5cleveland.com.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Black Book Project was launched at the beginning of 2021 by former teacher Meredith McKinney.

Since the launch McKinney has collected books featuring Black characters for children who would otherwise not have access to books that represent them.

Last year, the goal was to collect 500 books by the end of February 2021. It was quickly exceeded, and more than 1,300 books were donated.

"I launched the Black Book Project in hopes to be able to increase representation among literature so that our brown and Black children will understand that they are important, and they should be represented, and they should have an opportunity to own books that represent them," McKinney said.

The mission is to get more children to read, but it's also important that they can see themselves come alive on these pages.

"It's so important to instill in them and have them recognize that they are beautiful, just the way they are. Their hair grows out of their scalp just the way it's supposed to and that's beautiful," said McKinney. "And so really trying to instill that in them at a very early age while promoting literacy at the same time."

McKinney wants to get 2,000 books donated before the end of Black History Month in February.

This story was originally reported by Kelsey Gibbs on newschannel5.com.

COLUMBUS, Ohio —

Ohio has turned a big page with its Imagination Library this month, which is tied to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

That's the statewide reading program designed for the very youngest children, from birth up to age five.

Parton founded the program in 1995. Parton's Imagination Library initially delivered books to children in Tennessee but quickly expanded worldwide. The goal of the Imagination Library is to help accelerate children's development through reading.

The program was launched in Ohio in March of last year, back when the pandemic hit. Talk about tough timing.

But data this December showed young children in this state have really taken to it.

So much so that when it comes to books and young kids, one could safely state it is milestone season in Ohio.

First Lady Fran DeWine was the one who started it in the Buckeye State and is pleased with the response.

Forty-three percent of Ohio children up to age five are now part of her Imagination Library. That's 301,457 kids and that's the best in the country.

"So, a state like Tennessee has been doing to for a long time and they have a higher percentage," she told us this week at the governor's residence in Bexley. "But we have more kids getting it every month than any other state."

As she talked about it, she showed WLWT a tree the DeWine's got at a dairy near their family home in Cedarville.

"I love it because it's got the little Imagination Library books on it that we made. The little tiny ones here and lots of the fun books. And also, we decorated with gingerbread and the popcorn and the cranberries," she said.

Children's Hospital administers the program in Hamilton County where 47% of the kids who have enrolled receive a free book each month in the mail, addressed to them instead of their parents.

The first lady believes that is the hook.

"I saw 'em wrap the wrapper off, you know, pull it off," she explained about the reaction from her grandkids. "And, 'read to me, read to me, grandma.' And, 'I thought this is a great program.'"

DeWine met Parton in Cleveland five years ago and hearing her speak about how it is helping children in Tennessee to read inspired DeWine to follow suit and make books available to as many Ohio children as possible.

"No matter what time the kids, how old the kids are when they start the Imagination Library, the very first book they get is 'The Little Engine That Could'," she said while holding several of the most popular mailings. "That's Dolly Parton's favorite."

Science suggests a child's brain is 80% developed by age 3.

So, DeWine's message is to not let that opportunity go unused.

A Children's Hospital study showed after three years in the program, children were 15 points higher in the kindergarten readiness category, which is what the program is designed to do.

Get them to the starting line.

If interested, you can enroll your child in a matter of minutes by visiting OhioImaginationLibrary.org and click on enroll.

CINCINNATI — The Scripps Howard Foundation's "If You Give a Child a Book" campaign is back, and campaign organizers want to make sure that no child in the Tri-State goes without a book.

In the past four years, the foundation has donated more than 352,000 books to children in the Tri-State, and each book can make a major difference in a child's life.

"The chance that they'll graduate from college is much higher," Liz Carter, president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Foundation, said. "They deserve our help."

This year, the need for more books is crucial as more students learn remotely during the pandemic.

"It's going to be really important this year that students have books right now because of remote learning," Amy Randolph, Oyler School's principal, said. "We have a time where it's drop everything and read."

The schools benefiting from this year's campaign are Lincoln Heights Elementary School, Oyler School, Lincoln Elementary School and Carlisle Elementary School.

If you would like to learn more about the campaign or make a donation, you can click the link here.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — When you walk into Kaitlyn Mahoney’s house, you’ll notice every shelf is filled with pages and pages of insight. There are hundreds of books, all with a similar purpose.

“One of the things that I’m really committed to is prioritizing stories by and about Black people, Jewish people, fat people, disabled people, as many different marginalization’s and intersections with the queer identify as I can," Mahoney said.

Mahoney is the founder of Under the Umbrella Bookstore. It is an upcoming community bookstore serving the LGBTQIA+ community in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the first of its kind in the area.

Fewer than 1% of small businesses in America are certified as LGBT business enterprises. Now, this new business is joining the ranks to open its own inclusive space.

“Under the Umbrella is meant to flip the entire hierarchy of prioritization so that those stories featuring or about black queers, and trans queers and disabled queers are the most important ones," Mahoney said. “What I envision for Under the Umbrella is a space where people can come and do what I did with yourself and those books and you are learning about yourself. You’re having an experience for and with yourself and that book.”

Mahoney's own experiences with books is what has sent her on this journey of self-discovery.

“I started reading more diversly in general and that’s kind of how I realized how diverse life could be and is, but how diverse it could be for me," Mahoney said. “It made me start questioning what I had been talk about gender and sexuality. Because I grew up in a religion where gender is male and female, and it’s eternal and that’s it, and sexually was either straight or gay and one of those was a bad thing to be. Books is how I really found the language to describe a lot of things I had been feeling, but I just hadn’t let myself just think about.”

Mahoney says this space will be safe for those who have nowhere to go.

“There are a lot of queer youth who desperately need acceptance and love," Mahoney said.

She wants to make sure no one is left behind wondering.

“I can’t even imagine what my life would look like if I would have had that when I was younger. If I had been exposed to the love and acceptance that I desperately needed to help me and myself," Mahoney said.

Members of the community couldn’t agree more.

“I can’t tell you how many people have said those words to me, ‘I wish this space had existed when I was younger," Mahoney said.

People have come together to raise more than $55,000 to make this vision of Under the Umbrella a reality.

“I knew that the space was necessary. I knew that we needed it, but the response from the community has just been amazing," Mahoney said.

Mahoney says Salt Lake City needs businesses like this, but so does every other city. According to the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, out of the 28 million small businesses across the country, only 909 are officially certified as LGBT Business Enterprises.

“There are only a handful that are specifically queer, but there are a handful that are very queer focused," Mahoney said.

The NGLCC says businesses like these are a vibrant, essential part of the small business engine that makes the economy run.

“There is nothing like this in Utah and I can’t tell you why, like I don’t know," Mahoney said.

That is why she says books and book stores need to be more inclusive nationally and world wide.

“I found it really hard to go into a general bookstore like your Barns and Noble or your local and that just has a general selection of books was hard to find books that were specifically queer or that showed identities that are everywhere but that you don’t necessarily see in books," Mahoney said.

With a house filled with books and items made by LGBTQ+ individuals ready to sell Kaitlyn is ready to welcome all.

“So, however you identify under the LGBTQIA+ queer umbrella, you are welcome under the umbrella," Mahoney said.