Family Literacy

Reading aloud to children is so important to their development and to foster a lifelong love of reading. I truly think that reading to children is the number one way to promote literacy.  

Family literacy is exactly like it sounds - reading as a family, meaning making reading a priority in your home with your children whether it is a bedtime story, reading magazines and/or newspapers daily, or playing games that have reading as a component.  

Today, most children attend some type of day care or preschool setting before entering elementary school, and as a result, reading at home became less of a priority. However, with all the new research on the importance of reading to children comes a new focus on incorporating family literacy into our busy lives. 

One great program is 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten.  Sounds incredible, doesn't it?  I mean, most adults can't even say we've read 1,000 books, and the push is for kids under age 5 to read that many?  Well, not really.  It's supposed to give adults with children incentives to read aloud to their children as much as possible during their early development to get them reading ready for kindergarten.  This is a seriously cool program.  And it's FREE!  The website makes it easy to get started downloading the reading logs, recommended reading lists, and there's even an app!  Public libraries and some school districts have adopted this program, so it makes it easy to get support finding interesting and exciting books for every development milestone.  

And the push for family literacy doesn't stop upon entering elementary school. Have you heard about One School, One Book? I just found out about it yesterday, and looked up the website at http://www.readtothem.org.  The organization Read to Them is a 501(c)3 that promotes family literacy through the One School, One Book and One District, One Book programs.  

You can check out their informational video here.  Essentially, schools pay for the program that fits their school community an entire school begins reading one (or more) books, whether through mentor reading, read alouds, book clubs or a combination.  There are lesson plans and other activities included in the kit in addition to the books themselves.  Families are encouraged to participate.  

Even if you do not have any children or grandchildren, try volunteering to be a reader at your local school, senior living center, nursing home or public library. Or if you have children and/or grandchildren, encourage them to volunteer. Chances are a discovery of how rewarding it is to read aloud to others will reinvigorate your own reading habit! 

Freedom to Read

It's been awhile.  But, it's been for a good cause. I went back to school so that I can some day soon be a school librarian. There, I hope to pass on my love of reading and libraries to the next generation.  So, I'm transitioning from reading nothing but professional articles and books on librarianship back to the real world. 

For instance, I'm starting to go to bookstores again. The first time in quite a while that I visited my local bookstore, I was amazed at the very first table of books in the middle aisle of the store showcasing how many books have already been written about our new president! There was an entire table with something like 15 titles ranging from his own books like Art of the Deal and Crippled America to Orwell's 1984,  Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and The Case Against Trump by Kevin D. Williamson.  Now, I'm not going to go into the crazy realm of politics. I only bring this up because I would have never thought that a big chain would put all those titles together in such a prominent way. I thought the store did a good job of putting all these radically different viewpoints on the country's current state of division on display.  

Made me think about what we would lose if our freedom of speech and expression is obstructed. That's why we need to remember to not only consume the information that comes from people who have the same beliefs, same culture, same values, same lifestyles. In fact, to really understand, we should be consulting as many diverse opinions as possible. 

The same goes for reading for pleasure. If you are a die-hard fantasy reader, pick up a Malcolm Gladwell book this summer.  If you read only nonfiction, try Kate Morton or indulge in a Sookie Stackhouse. The point is try something out of your comfort zone and you may be pleasantly surprised! 

If you need a boost, here's a link to a blog post that gives the Master List of 2017 Reading Challenges.