RIF | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Celebrate World Book Night Today!

Today is UNESCO’s World Book Day, chosen to coincide with the birth of Cervantes, and both the birth and death of Shakespeare. Here, it’s also World Book Night, a special celebration in which 25,000 volunteers will distribute half a million free paperbacks to reluctant adult readers. I think this is awesome. There are multiple nonprofits dedicated to giving free books out to children, like RIF and First Book, but it’s amazing how many adults there are that hardly read until someone puts the right book in their hands.

World Book Night is supported by the American Library Association, American book publishers, the American Booksellers Association, Barnes & Noble, the Association of American Publishers, and Ingram Book Distributors. I’d suggest you check out your local library or bookstore and see if they’re participating and if there are any related activities going on.

It’s too late to be a volunteer giver this year (how cool would that be, to be able to hand free books out to people personally!) but what you CAN do is spread the word about World Book Night. The more the merrier- make it viral! There’s a World Book Night Facebook page, and also a Pinterest board.(actually, there are many Pinterest boards and pins related to World Book Night- that’s just the official one). And, of course, just because you didn’t sign up to do it officially, that doesn’t mean you can’t give a book to a reluctant adult reader of your acquaintance. In fact, I recommend it. Get into the spirit of things- celebrate literacy and reading!

And here are the books that World Book Night volunteers will be handing out… they include excellent YA titles, powerful nonfiction, and some really great fiction, including a few genre titles.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Wintergirls
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Friday Night Lights
Kindred
Ender’s Game
Little Bee
The Hunger Games
Blood Work
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Because of Winn Dixie
Zeitoun
Peace Like a River
A Reliable Wife
Q is for Quarry
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Kite Runner
The Stand
The Poisonwood Bible
The History of Love
The Namesake
The Things They Carried
Bel Canto
My Sister’s Keeper
Housekeeping
The Lovely Bones
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Just Kids
The Glass Castle
The Book Thief

Get the news out, and share the love of reading everywhere you can!

Reading Is Fundamental

Hard to find anyone who would argue with that. In fact, it’s a favorite soapbox of all kinds of politicians, who love to bemoan the state of literacy and the failure rate of American students on standardized testing of reading skills.

Well, to be fair, it’s one of my soapboxes too. The importance of reading, and getting kids (and other people) engaged with reading and learning, is something I’m really passionate about. And a big part of getting kids connected with books is to give them books. Seems obvious, I know. But not every kid grows up in a home filled with books, or with parents who love reading and model it. There are a lot of adults who struggle with reading, or avoid it. Some kids don’t even have a home… and without an address, you generally can’t get a library card. And many don’t have the money to get a book of their own.

And that is why, as Nicholas Kristof wrote in a New York Times op-ed (a portion of which is quoted here) programs like Reading is Fundamental (RIF) and First Book are so vital to developing a nation of readers. The ownership of a book is an incredible gift of power. Not only does it increase children’s interest in and enjoyment of reading, but it positively affects family literacy and offers new opportunities for educators to involve their students in reading and learning.

So, if our elected officials agree that reading is vital, and programs like RIF and First Book encourage and promote literacy and reading for kids, families, and schools, with research supporting their practices, why are they cutting funding for these programs?

Hope for the future comes from reading and learning there’s more to life than what you see. Children, and the world, need hope. And books. Or they’ll be left bereft, as well as behind.