First Pages
Research tells us that third grade reading is a critical benchmark that strongly predicts children’s chances of success in school and beyond. Yet 37% of third graders in Massachusetts read below grade level, a problem that is the focus of. An Act Relative to Third Grade Reading Proficiency (S.188/H.1853)

In addition to preparing children for productive employment and effective citizenship, early experiences with reading are often magical encounters that create a lifetime of memories. First Pages captures pieces of that magic in recollections of people’s own early experiences with books or with reading to their children.

See what the people below said when asked to name a favorite children’s book.

	Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz, co-chair, Joint Committee on Education
	JD Chesloff, deputy director of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable and chairman of EEC Board
	Speaker Robert DeLeo, Massachusetts House of Representatives
	Dr. Gregory Hagan, president, Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
	Commissioner Sherri Killins, Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care
	Kathleen McCartney, dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education
	Representative Alice Peisch, co-chair Joint Committee on Education