Reach Out and Read Wisconsin

Another amazing day showcasing the power of shared reading!

Thanks for being amazing partners, Mosaic Family Health. 📚🩺

We are extremely grateful to Anytime Fitness for raising funds for our non-profit for the second-straight year. Clubs in Cedarburg, Germantown, Hartford, and West Bend made Reach Out and Read Wisconsin their Non-Profit of the Month for May and had a Penny War throughout the month. They have now raised over $5,000 for Reach Out and Read Wisconsin!

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Anytime Fitness of Cedarburg Anytime Fitness Hartford Anytime Fitness of West Bend Germantown Anytime Fitness

Big thanks to the Milwaukee Public Library's Good Hope Branch for hosting our June Advisory Council meeting. We loved being in such a wonderful community space!

If you missed it, Reach Out and Read Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Public Library are teaming up to support early childhood development and community resilience!

The Checkups & Checkouts: Prescription to Read initiative brings clinics and libraries together. When families attend their well-child visits at four different clinics in northwest Milwaukee (Milwaukee Health Inc.-Isaac Coggs Heritage Health Center, Ascension All Saints-Family Health Center, Children's Wisconsin Good Hope Pediatrics, Aurora Health Care-Good Hope Clinic), they get connected to their local MPL library (Good Hope and Villard Square). This makes it easy for parents and kids to read and bond together.

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Every child deserves to grow up surrounded by love, support, and a sense of belonging.

This Pride Month, we celebrate LGBTQ+ parents, children, and families. Every child and caregiver deserves to feel safe being exactly who they are and to know they are loved, valued, and supported by the people around them. When they do, they are free to learn, grow, and thrive.

At Reach Out and Read, we're proud to stand with and support families of all kinds. 🌈📚💙

Mirrors & Windows Book Review: I Love Your Face by Karma Wilson

A brief overview of the story: I Love Your Face is a sweet, simple picture book that celebrates the many faces infants and toddlers make. Whether the child is laughing and grinning or crying and frowning, the parent loves their face! Illustrating the unconditional love a parent has for their child, no matter the emotion being expressed, reminding little ones that it’s okay to express what they feel.

Why it’s engaging for families: This book appeals to families through its rhyme scheme and beautiful illustrations. The story provides many opportunities to point out and connect with the emotions on the characters' faces. With many pages encouraging the parents to take a break and give their child a big hug to remind them how much they are loved.

What makes it a strong Mirrors & Windows title: Many different children and families are shown throughout the book, providing an opportunity for children to see not only children who look like them, but also children who look different than them in the illustrations. This story incorporates diverse families without calling attention to their differences; instead, focusing on the love all families have for their children and their sweet faces!

Pungent, smoky, zesty, pickled — doesn't sound like the average toddler's bowl of buttered noodles, huh? As research and parenthood taught Helen Zoe Veit, author and associate professor at History Department, Michigan State University, little kids can learn to love big flavors, too! Hear her tips for encouraging picky eaters on the , with proof from the past that children once ate completely differently — and with vastly more pleasure:
reachoutandread.org/podcast

Sandie Thao, operations manager for Reach Out and Read Wisconsin, recently attended the Achieve Brown County Early Literacy Convening to connect with literacy champions and discuss collaborative efforts to advance early literacy and workforce development.

Reach Out and Read Wisconsin continues to share data with partners to inform community action and support families through early literacy programs.

"As a parent and community partner in Northeastern Wisconsin, I am looking forward to the continued impact these collaborative literacy efforts will have on families like ours," Thao said. "I remain committed to serving and strengthening the community through these collective actions."

This World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, we celebrate the richness of our world’s cultures — and the stories that bring them to life.

Reach Out and Read selects titles that reflect the beautiful diversity of the families we serve — across cultures, languages, and lived experiences. When children see their own and other communities in books, they begin to connect across differences, laying the foundation for empathy, understanding, and a brighter shared future. 📚🌍

This month's spotlight features Emplify Health by Gundersen Boscobel Area Clinics. These clinics serve the small, rural communities of Boscobel, Fennimore, and Muscoda.

This group of three clinics joined Reach Out and Read in April 2025. While some staff members are new to the program, several bring experience from previous health systems. The clinic coordinator, for instance, used her prior expertise to implement a highly organized book-tracking system—a task that can often be a struggle for new sites. The staff values the opportunity to provide both developmental guidance and a book to families, noting the genuine excitement when children realize the book is theirs to keep.

In their first year, the clinics emphasized creating literacy-rich environments, specifically focusing on waiting rooms with child-friendly areas for reading and coloring.

Medical Champion Carley Drakas immediately embraced her role by volunteering for the Muscoda Public Library’s 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten event. Drakas and her husband, both nurse practitioners at the Muscoda clinic, collaborated with local organizations to plan the successful event. Drakas noted that the event allowed them to connect with families in Muscoda and surrounding communities, as well as local institutions. She was especially pleased to meet the school principal and looks forward to assisting with future community events.

So thankful for Hudson Physicians and New Richmond Community Library for hosting Senator Rob Stafsholt.