Did you know that LitWorld’s annual World Read Aloud Day is coming up on March 7th?
“World Read Aloud Day is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology.” ~from the LitWorld website
Last year, a bunch of us who write books for kids got together and volunteered to read aloud via Skype to classrooms and libraries all over the world, for free. These weren’t big, fancy presentations — just a few minutes of reading aloud, followed by some questions. I made a list of read-aloud authors with links so teachers & librarians could contact them and plan Read Aloud Day Skype sessions for their students. Some authors also posted video read-alouds to share, and it was all great fun.
So…that brings us to this year. World Read Aloud Day is March 7, 2012.
Are you a traditionally published author who would like to Skype into classrooms & libraries to read aloud to kids for free on March 7th? Just leave me a comment with your name, publisher(s), the age groups for which you write, and a website where teachers & librarians can find contact information. Please use this format to keep things simple:
Kate Messner Chronicle/Scholastic/Walker-Bloomsbury PB/Chapter books/MG www.katemessner.comOnce I hear from a bunch of people, I’ll create this year’s list and keep adding to it as we get closer to World Read Aloud Day.
(Note: This list will include traditionally published authors only. I have nothing against self-publishing, but I’m one human being with limited time, and that helps to limit the scope of this project so that I can still write books and feed my kids and things like that. If someone else wants to make a list of self-published authors volunteering to do Skype read-alouds, I will happily link to it here.)
Teachers & librarians…please give us a few days and then check back; we’ll have a list of authors ready to go so that you can start planning for Read Aloud Day, 2012!