A lending library for Western New York’s littlest listeners!

Updated: Monday, November 17, 2025 1:43 PM

A lending library for Western New York's littlest listeners!

Mona Bonanno, MD, pediatrician and medical director of the newborn service at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital (MFSH), is on a mission to promote early literacy, starting at the very beginning - with newborn patients and their families.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, reading to children from birth not only helps them learn language and broaden vocabulary, it actually helps them associate reading with positive feelings of safety and comfort. A newborn baby doesn't see very well, but their sense of hearing is well developed, and babies love the sound of their parents' voices. When parents talk, read or sing to their babies, the babies feel less stressed! But a book isn't always something parents remember to bring when they come to the hospital for delivery.

To help bridge that gap, Dr. Bonanno, with the help of the Mother Baby nurses at MFSH, set up the "Baby Book Nook" on the Mother Baby Unit. The little library is filled with cardboard books donated by staff members who enjoyed reading them to their own children and grandchildren. Parents are able to borrow books during their hospital stay to read to their tiny newborn. Even though babies don't understand the words, they enjoy hearing the rhythms of poems, the cadence of speech and the joy conveyed by a happy story.

For Dr. Bonanno, reading has always been an important part of her life as a mother of four. Offering more than just a fun escape into a different world, she's seen the positive developmental effects that reading promotes.

"We have always been a very book-oriented family. We made sure to read to our kids every night before bed,"Dr. Bonanno said. "We even used books as prizes for good behavior and good grades."

Reading stories also demonstrates various ways in which characters interact, which has helped her children better express their own feelings and empathize with others.

Dr. Bonanno hopes to grow the Baby Book Nook and find a sponsor to be able to gift each newborn their very first birth-day book!