Stars Come Out to Support Reading

On Monday, the NY City organization Children of Bellevue Hospital hosted its 15th annual Starry Night Stories, an event at which noted actors read excerpts from children's stories to recruit volunteers and donors for the hospital's Reach Out and Read program.This year's group of stars included Julianne Moore, Samuel L. Jackson (who read with Moore from her children's book "Freckleface Strawberry: Best Friends Forever"), John C. Reilly, Billy Crudup, Ana Gasteyer, Brooke Shields, and LaTanya Richardson.Reach Out and Read's mission is to prepare the city's youngest children to succeed in school, as research indicates that children who are read to at an early age build a strong foundation for later learning and ultimately excel in school. The program matched the performers with the stories they read, hoping to inspire the adult audience members to volunteer or donate money."Anyone with a brain in their head knows that reading to children is important," said Reilly. "Not just for reading skills, but for the special connection that occurs between children and the people that read to them." The best friend of Reilly's mother-in-law is the program's outgoing director, Linda van Schaick."One of the greatest gifts we can give a child is the love of reading, and it's never too early to begin," said van Schaick.Crudup said that he read to his own son every night while he was growing up, and Moore, an honorary co-chair of Reach Out and Read, said her mother and son both volunteer with the program. When asked how this year's event compared to those in previous years, she said with a laugh, "It depends on how much money they make."Reach Out and Read also partners with doctors to prescribe books during checkups, hoping to encourage families, especially those living in poverty, to read together."If you ask any of the pediatricians in this room, they'll tell you how meaningful this is," said Perri Klass, the organization's national medical director. "It's something we do for our own children, and it's something you can do to help a child every day."