My own memories of books as a young child revolve around visits to the local public library and the concept of choosing a book. When I was a little older, I remember my grandfather reaching high up on his shelf and pulling down an early edition Winnie the Pooh, with one of my aunt’s name’s on the inside front cover. A school teacher at St. Bernard’s in Manhattan, my grandfather made ceremony and ritual out of the choice of the book. And I loved it (and him). When my own children were little, books like Goodnight, Moon, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and the Paddington series were bedtime favorites. The concept of literacy from birth is a pretty potent one…
bedtime stories for young brains from the WELL blog at NY Times
Head's Up, Kathleen McNamara 
I actually work for Reach Out and Read. We are a national early literacy organization that partners with doctors offices who see children for their well child visits. They provide brand new age appropriate and language appropriate book to children 6 months to 5 years of age. Our mission is to help build a library of books in the home prior to kindergarten where the family can spend time reading aloud and bonding to prepare the children for success in school. Check us out http://www.reachoutandread.org!