Ready to Read?

Tomorrow (2/24/2016) is world read aloud day.

Sponsored by litworld.org, the goal of tis day is to help develop a community of readers and celebrate the fact that literacy belongs to everyone.

This is one of those things that should be really important to you as a children’s writer, especially if you write picture books.  Why picture books?  Because they are meant to be read out loud.

Celebrate tomorrow by reading aloud to the young reader in your life.  If your young read, like mine, is now a teen, don’t give up on reading aloud.  Welcome it when it happens but accept that it might not be a regular occurence.  How do I encourage it with my teen?

As a family, we share news stories that we found worrisome, we read bits of fascinating articles, and then there are the jokes.  We’ve always been big on sharing the funny moment with each other.

Personally, it is hard for me to imagine not being able to read.  Not everyone in my family is well-educated, but we are still a family of readers.  I know this although I don’t remember an overwhelming number of bookcases in my grandparent’s homes.  My paternal grandparents had one in the main house and one in the garage converted to a bedroom.  (Main house sounds oh so dramatic.  It was tiny and adobe.)  My maternal grandparents had two big bookcases that are now in my home.  They also had a basket in the family room full of magazines. You don’t have to have a limitless number of books to read.  You just need to do it.

Read.  Read quietly.  Read aloud.  Read to yourself.  Read to others.  Just read.

–SueBE