Georgia 4-Year-Old Reads 1,000 Books, Gets Library Of Congress Invite

GAINESVILLE, GA — When you're 4 years old and have already read 1,000 books, eventually you're going to end up at the Library of Congress.

That's exactly what happened this week after the nation's top librarian heard about Daliyah Marie Arana, a precocious preschooler from Gainesville, Georgia.

Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress, hosted Daliyah in Washington on Wednesday. She got to serve as "Librarian For The Day," shadowing Hayden on Capitol Hill at the world's largest library.

"She just kept saying how the Library of Congress is her most favorite, favorite, favorite library in the whole wide world," Daliyah's mother, Haleema Arana, told the Washington Post.

Haleema Arana says she would read with her other children while she was pregnant with Daliyah. As early as 18 months, Daliyah was recognizing words in books they'd read together, and at 2 years, 11 months, Daliyah was able to read her first book on her own.

Haleema says she was inspired by the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program to start counting the number of books Daliyah read. She told the Post that she'd possibly read 1,000 books before they started counting, but that in the year or so after, she met the program's 1,000-book goal and hopes to hit 1,500 before entering college.

Wednesday was, of course, not the first time Daliyah has spent the day in a library.

"I like to check out books every day," she said in an October article in the Gainesville Times. "And I want to teach other kids to read at an early age, too."

Daliyah's mom says her parents have never had her reading level tested but that she's been able to work her way through texts that her siblings — in 10th and 12th grade — have brought home from school.

She told the local paper she likes reading about dinosaurs and books about adventure and that her favorite author is Mo Willems, whose books are written for pre-K through third-graders.

And what does she want to be when she grows up? A librarian, of course.

Photos courtesy Library of Congress