Northern Ireland is set to be the only part of the UK not to provide every baby with free books due to Stormont funding cuts.
The Department of Education (DE) has said it can no longer fund the Book Start Baby programme.
The programme, run by the Book Trust, provided more than 20,000 families in Northern Ireland with free books and reading advice every year.
The department had contributed £75,000 a year to the cost of Book Start Baby.
It is now facing an "extremely challenging" budget in 2023-24 that has already led to the end of DE funding for other schemes like free school meals holiday payments and counselling for primary school children.
Under the Book Start Baby scheme every family of a baby born in Northern Ireland received one or two books suitable for babies and toddlers.
They also received information about reading from their health visitor in each health trust.
