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Throughout the world libraries have been making efforts to stimulate reading from an early age (with babies and toddlers), because it influences reading competences. The paper presents the best library practices for first steps in reading competences used in USA and Germany. Both countries have a number of different programs, but an additional reason is that their programs are easily put into practice. We also mention several interesting positive examples of cooperation of libraries and other institutions in this field. The article presents the main possibilities for stimulating reading with children from birth to the age of six: direct forms like "Story time", steps intended for the mediators of the reading, i. e. parents, teachers, educators, librarians, and national campaigns like the Summer Reading Program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]