Walking into the Chestnut Hill office of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Primary Care, 2-year-old twins Nakoa and Jonas are already squirming and running around the examination room, toddler screeching coming through the wall. Outside on the door hang two cardboard books: “When I am Curious” and “When I Feel Happy.”

Dr. Denise Fitzpatrick strides down the hall, picks up both books, opens the door and walks into the fray.

“Hello!” she shouts, with both arms to the sky, a book in each hand. As if it were candy, the twins turn their heads upwards and fall blissfully quiet. “As you know, you get a book every time you come for a health checkup,” she says. When Fitzpatrick hands Nakoa and Jonas their reward, they start fiddling with the thick cardboard pages.

This exchange is familiar to many local parents because Fitzpatrick just completed what is called the “Reach Out and Read” intervention, designed to emphasize the importance of early literacy by giving free books to children up to age 5. Reach Out and Read is a national nonprofit that works to “strengthen families with young children through guidance from medical clinicians about nurturing relationships through shared reading.”

On Saturday, Oct. 24, doctors, clinical staff, corporate partners and community members will lace up their sneakers at Germantown Friends School, 31 W. Coulter St., in support of the 13th Annual Reach Out and Read Charity Basketball Tournament. Bringing together 16 teams and 160 players, the daylong competition serves as the primary fundraiser to supply books for more than 50,000 pediatric patients treated each year at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

The tournament traces its roots back over a decade, when two St. Christopher pediatricians and basketball enthusiasts, Hans Kersten and Daniel Taylor, turned their weekend pickup games into a community effort to address Philadelphia’s early literacy gap. Today, research shows that only 17% of Philadelphia fourth graders read at grade level. “Reach Out and Read” integrates early literacy directly into primary pediatric care.

Celebrating its 25th year, the program has supported over 400,000 local families to date with new books.

In Philadelphia, many medical practices began participating in the initiative decades ago. However, this summer, Reach Out and Read launched a Pennsylvania affiliate, further growing the program.

“This launch brings together the capacity for a network that is like no other,” says Dr. Danielle Erkoboni, associate medical director of Reach Out and Read Pennsylvania. Much of Erkoboni’s work is done at CHOP’s Literacy Lab, conducting research for Reach Out and Read. The program is largely known for its books, but it studies a variety of topics relating to early literacy. Currently, Erkoboni is studying how the intervention affects parent-practitioner relationships.

For Taylor, the books have become much more than a giveaway. They’ve become a tool for creating personal relationships with parents and patients — especially at his practice, where the majority of patients come from underserved communities.

“Some of our families have a lot of shame behind their lack of literacy,” he says. “But we can tell them, ‘You don’t have to even read the words. You can just talk about pictures. It’s just as important.’”

St. Christopher’s approach to Reach Out and Read includes free books at wellness checks all the way into adulthood, as well as an allocated literacy nook/waiting room at the front of the building. The nurses’ offices resemble a library more than office spaces, with lines of book cabinets against the wall next to the paper printer.

For years, all Reach Out and Read locations have been responsible for raising money to pay for books on their own, which usually comes at a bulk discount. Taylor says St. Christopher’s gives away about $165,000 in books each year. For smaller practices like CHOP Chestnut Hill, the cost is lower, a few thousand dollars a year. Reach Out and Read usually collaborates with participating medical practices to help connect them with donors.

Still, the cost can be prohibitive for rural practices that want to join. Steve Wilmot, Reach Out and Read Pennsylvania’s new executive director, says the new affiliate hopes to change that.

“I met a doctor up in Wilkes-Barre. He has one doctor, one nurse, in his office. That’s it,” he said. “The doctor pays for his book budgets out of his own money. [Reach Out and Read Pennsylvania] is going to have to step up and support sites that need funding.”

For new locations, that money will come in the form of need-based aid from the nonprofit to help implement the program. Wilmot already reports a backlog of sites requesting to join since the launch of the affiliate.

Wilmot says he knows the program will be beneficial not only for the children these practices serve, but for the doctors as well.

“Doctors feel more connected to patients and their families because they’re able to talk with them about something else than 10 fingers and 10 toes,” he says. “It really creates a lovely dialogue between the caregiver and the clinician.”

For this Saturday’s tournament, admission is free and community support is encouraged. The event runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.