The Maine Humanities Council is using a $15,000 grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation to support Born to Read programs in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.

The grant will serve 45 educators and, in turn, affect at least 450 children in their care, as well as hundreds to come in future years. Born to Read programs run for six weeks, for a total of 15 hours of group interaction. Participants receive two children’s books at each of the six group meetings to keep for their classroom libraries.

Born to Read is the Maine Humanities Council’s statewide early literacy program and is designed to help early childhood educators meet the increasing demand for quality services for children under the age of 5.

Through literature-based professional development programs, early childhood educators have a unique opportunity to read, reflect and discuss ideas from literature and then apply them in their daily work. Led by a team of skilled facilitators, the six-week training programs focus on providing caregivers with strategies for sharing stories and initiating discussions about those stories with children.

The King Foundation grant provides funding for the development and implementation of a new anti-violence program tentatively called Stories for a Peaceable Classroom, in addition to funds for the implementation of an existing program, Caregivers in a Changing World. The grant also allows the Maine Humanities Council to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of both programs.

Caregivers in a Changing World focuses on themes of diversity and inclusion in children’s literature, and is intended to help children and caregivers adapt to and understand the changing face of Maine.

The new series, Stories for a Peaceable Classroom, will focus on themes of anti-violence and conflict resolution. Even among Maine’s youngest children, a culture of violence is increasing due to exposure to violent toys and television programs glorifying violence, program officials say.

Stories for a Peaceable Classroom is designed to help caregivers prepare young children to confront cultural influences by helping them learn to question the make-believe violence around them.

Born to Read was created in 1997 to ensure that Maine’s youngest children, from infancy to age 5, experience daily read-aloud opportunities and begin school excited about books and ready to learn.