World Read Aloud Day by Tina Cho

Read aloud. Change the World.

That is this year’s theme for World Read Aloud Day. According to LitWorld, 793 million people are illiterate. “Imagine a world where everyone can read.”

World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) began with one woman, Pam Allyn, who visited Kenya and saw the extreme poverty and the need children had there to read. She started a nonprofit organization called LitWorld in 2007. Their mission is to “implement on-the-ground innovative solutions to the hard-to-tackle challenge of illiteracy worldwide.” They “work in close and trusting partnerships with locally based, grassroots organizations to build sustainable outcomes for young people around the world.”

“Every year World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) calls global attention to the importance of reading aloud and sharing stories.”

WRAD is one of the events hosted by LitWorld. It began in 2010, and now 82 countries and millions of people online and live in-person take part in this wonderful day that shows the importance of reading.

This year’s WRAD was Feb. 24^th, 2016.

Laura Sassi, author

I was privileged to take part in WRAD at my school. We invited two authors for February, and they aren’t strangers to the GROG blog—Laura Sassi and Nancy I.Sanders. They both graciously agreed to Skype with our elementary in South Korea.

Skype with Laura Sassi

First, we Skyped with Laura Sassi, author of Goodnight Ark and Goodnight Manger. This was the first time my school had done an author Skype. In the words of one of the students—it was awesome! Laura read Goodnight Ark to us and commented about writing and illustrating things along the way. She also brought out her skunk puppets! My own students came back to my classroom pumped and eager to write a book. Thank you, Laura!

Nancy I. Sanders, author

Second, we Skyped with Nancy I. Sanders, author of A Pirate’s Mother Goose, Get to Know Bible Biographies, and a host of other books. Our lower elementary made pirate hats and brushed up on our pirate lingo to prepare for Nancy’s Skype session. She read a couple of nursery rhymes from her new pirate book and One Sentence Storybooks. The kids enjoyed asking her questions in both our k-2 and 3-5 sessions. Thank you, Nancy!

Skype with Nancy I. Sanders

In my opinion, you don't need to wait for World Read Aloud Day to read with a class of students. Teachers will be glad to have you come to their class in person or virtually. And it's a great way to get encouraged in your writing, by influencing youngsters to read and write. Have you read to a child lately?