Children

1000 Books before Kindergarten!

Early Literacy starts in the home

Numerous studies estimate that as many as one in five children have difficulties learning to read. Reading has been associated as an early indicator of academic success.  Public formal education does not typically start until ages 5-6.  Before then, parents and caregivers are the first education providers during the 0-5 early critical years. The 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge is simple – sign up in the Children’s Room and read a book to your child. Then, keep reading until you reach the goal of 1,000 books before kindergarten.

Family Place Library

Building Foundations for Early Learning

Maxfield Public Library joined the Family Place Libraries network in March 2025.

The goal of the program is to engage parents as their child’s first teachers and to help them understand the importance of play and learning. It focuses on parents and children three and under.

We provide an ever evolving early childhood space in the children’s room that is open whenever the library is open; resources for parents, caregivers and service providers in our Parenting collection; and offer a five-week workshop series (Parent-Child Play and Learn) where families play and learn together.

Numerous studies estimate that as many as one in five children have difficulties learning to read. Reading has been associated as an early indicator of academic success.  Public formal education does not typically start until ages 5-6.  Before then, parents and caregivers are the first education providers during the 0-5 early critical years. The 1000 Books Before Kindergarten challenge is simple – sign up in the Children’s Room and read a book to your child. Then, keep reading until you reach the goal of 1,000 books before kindergarten.

REading Dragons & Friends

It’s like library Pokémon!

Reading Dragons was created by the Dover (OH) Public Library in 2019, and made available to libraries all over the world to use and adapt in 2021.
Reading Dragons encourages reading outside of school for elementary (and middle) school aged children to build reading skills and instill a love of reading.
At Maxfield Public Library, participants get a set of nine started cards just for signing up. For every week that a participant reads 30 minutes a day for at least four days, they earn an evolution of a new dragon (or other magical creature) that they pick from our card binder.

But it’s not just reading and collecting cards. We also offer chances to get together to play games with the cards, design our own games, and even design new cards!