Westerly Sun Column | Read Across America: A Celebration For All

Yesterday, March 2, was the birthday of Theodor Geisel — better known to the masses as Dr. Seuss. This day also marks the beginning of Read Across America Week, an annual celebration created by the National Education Association nearly 30 years ago to promote reading and literacy, especially for children and young adults. While the celebration has morphed slightly over the years, educators, libraries, and booksellers still embrace Read Across America as an opportunity to encourage literacy and ignite excitement around reading, for ALL ages!

Today, many schools and daycares are celebrating with Spirit Weeks that call for kids to embrace the “superpower” of reading by dressing as superheroes, or celebrate their favorite books by dressing as specific characters. The NEA celebrates Read Across America by offering activities, book lists, videos, and other resources to motivate children and teens to read, with special emphasis on celebrating diversity and inclusion through reading. While such initiatives receive special attention this month, the NEA now celebrates Read Across America year-round, continually promoting books and literacy.

At the library, we take a similar route to the NEA, encouraging a love of reading throughout the entire year. Still, you can absolutely celebrate Read Across America in a million small ways this week! If you don’t yet have a library card, signing up for one could be your first step. A library card gives you access to hundreds of thousands of books and audiobooks for all age groups, on every subject imaginable, and reflecting a diverse range of authors, subjects, and experiences. If you want to expand your literary horizons, this week is a great time to try out a new book or author. You can get great recommendations from our library displays, or join one of the fabulous book discussions at the library to get ideas from other readers!

This week is also the perfect time to celebrate and learn more about our freedom to read. Today, March 3, there will be a moderated panel discussion at the library in partnership with Authors Against Banned Books, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The panel will talk about censorship, book bans, and the current landscape related to these subjects in and around Rhode Island, and will feature award-winning Rhode Island-based author Padma Venkatraman and others. We welcome you to come, and to listen, and to celebrate your own freedom to read by checking out whatever books in our collection are of interest to you!