Reading builds brains, fostering early learning and creating connections in the brain that promote language, cognitive, and social and emotional development. 

By reading with your child, you also help cultivate a lasting love of reading. Reading for pleasure can help prevent conditions such as stress, depression and dementia. (University of Liverpool)

Decades of early literacy research, from Durkin (1966), Bus van Ijezendoorn, and Pellegrini (1995), to Neuman and Celano (2006), provide convincing evidence that the interactions young children enjoy at home with their caregivers, especially conversation and hearing stories read aloud specifically play a significant role in academic success and beyond. (www.scholastic.com)

A data set analysis of nearly 100,000 U.S. school children found that access to printed materials — and not poverty — is the “critical variable affecting reading acquisition.” (McQuillan, 1996)  

MRI scans show increased brain activity in children whose parents read with them regularly. (WebMD)