LOS ANGELES, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- California and several Southern states ranked in the bottom 10 U.S. states in percentage of parents who read to children under age 5.
The report -- prepared by the University of California at Los Angeles' Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities for the non-profit group Reach Out and Read National Center -- found that 47.8 percent of U.S. children under age 5 are read to every day.
"This report proves that physicians and policymakers have work to do," lead researcher Dr. Shirley Russ, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said in a statement. "Early learning starts in the home with parents. We need to do more to ensure that parents have the information and tools they need to provide their children with a strong foundation for learning."
The report provides state-by-state information on the percentage of children whose parents read aloud to them daily. The statistics show that reading rates vary significantly by state, with Vermont posting 68 percent and Mississippi 38 percent.
