Young children will be encouraged to read before they start school in a new Bendigo Library initiative.
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Once registered at the local library, the "1000 Books Before School" program aims to encourage children to read or be read to as much as possible.
Goldfields Library coordinator of programs and events Tammy Higgs said reading was a fantastic thing for children to be doing as their brains develop.
"The research shows that this can make the biggest difference to their school readiness and to their future literacy prospects," she said.
Ms Higgs said people wanting to get involved in the program should come down to the library and ask to register.
"When they register they'll receive a bag, a reading record, a sticker pack," she said.
"They can keep coming back to us at each of the program's milestones and we give them a gift, which is an incentive to keep them reading because we think it is so important."