By J.D. O’Gara

Four-year-old Anthony Francis Costanzo, of Franklin, began a love for reading early.

Born as a preemie on May 7th, 2020, at just one pound, 9 ounces, at Brigham & Women’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Anthony had to spend a lot of time – four months – in an incubator at the start of his life. Despite not being able to hold their tiny baby, his Mom, Adrianna, and Dad, Joe, at the suggestion of doctors and nurses, would read baby books to him as a way to bond.

“In the NICU with Anthony being in the incubator, we couldn’t pick him up all the time. He was connected to a breathing tube and IV’s. It was a process to get him out of there, so we would sit by the incubator and talk with him,” says Joe.

“The nurses suggested opening up the sides of the incubator so he could hear our voices,” Adrianna explained. “I would adjust the chair, so I was right next to him and read. If he was having a bad day, I swear, hearing our voice or reading a book, helped calm him down; and it calmed us down too.” 

“My family sent me books we would read to him,” says Joe, “It helped him, we believe, and it helped us bond with him more.”

Last year, the couple began collecting books for the Brigham & Women’s Hospital NICU as a way to help other parents going through similar circumstances connect with their babies.

“The Brigham’s NICU has a literacy reading program, and when Anthony got out of the NICU and he was doing so well, we wanted to give back to Brigham, so we did that collection. Because of the generosity of everyone, we kept getting more books. We made another donation, and that’s when Tufts’ (NICU literacy program) contacted us asking us to do the same thing (for them).”

Since then, says Joe, “We’ve donated 1,228 books – to Brigham & Women’s three times, and once to Tufts.”

The family isn’t stopping there. In fact, on August 2nd, they’ll set up their “Warrior Family Books For NICU” tent at the Franklin Farmers Market, where they’ll be collecting new and gently used baby books once again for Boston NICU’s. Little Anthony, who, at 34 lbs., is a student at Franklin’s ECDC preschool and now enjoys his construction toys, bubbles and water play, will be helping out. “He’s “going to be our tattoo man, giving out fake tattoos,” says Joe, adding that, while his parents are working on him getting heavier, Anthony is “doing great with his motor skills,” playing soccer and T-Ball this year” and enjoying his construction toys, bubbles and water play.

Books collected at the Franklin Farmers Market will be added to the next delivery to Brigham & Women’s on August 9th. 

The Costanzos also have a Facebook page,  https://www.facebook.com/WarriorFamilyBooksForNICU, and an Amazon link www.amazon.com/registries/gl/guest-view/2A62Y300QSQBJ . They’ve also recently begun working with local book shop Love Your Shelf, of Bellingham, https://bookshop.org/wishlists/62aa153bad195c71b5fe4a55c638077b1f10d786

“They’re so nice, and they told me about this store called bookshop.org, and we made a gift registry there,” says Joe. “If people buy a book from our registry there, part of our proceeds goes to the local bookstore.” 

The Costanzos, who had also worked with Escape Into Fiction prior to the location’s closing, are eager to participate in the Farmers Market.

“We’re so excited for the Farmers Market,” says Joe, “This will be our first big event, and my whole family’s going to be there.”