What are you doing for International Literacy Day?
September 8, 2024
As I wrote this at my local library yesterday, I realized that many of us take literacy for granted. Yet we are facing an unprecedented literacy crisis. Since 2020, the number of children worldwide lacking basic literacy skills rose from 483 million to 584 million.
According to UNESCO, literacy is a basic human right. It’s also a foundation for acquiring the knowledge, values and behaviors needed to foster a culture of peace based on respect and non-discrimination.
Our world needs this right now.
Learning to read is a right, but it’s also a joy. I’ve had the great privilege of discovering that joy three times in my life.
The most recent is when I began tutoring children with dyslexia and/or other language-based disabilities at a literacy clinic. The traditional approach to reading taught in schools just didn’t work for them. They come in feeling like failures, yet they are some of the smartest, most creative kids I have ever met.
With time, patience and hard work, our structured literacy approach paid off for most of our students. I saw the spark of pure delight when things started to click into place. The defeat they carried like a weight on their shoulders became pride in their success. The reluctance they had to open a book was replaced with an eagerness to turn the page to see what happened next. Their joy was contagious. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.
Tutoring reminded me of when my kids learned to read. The happiness I felt was like a punch to the heart. I rediscovered the joy of reading through their eyes.
We visited the library every week and left with armfuls of books. My son loved almost anything by James Stevenson, especially Are We Almost There? My daughter favored Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.
As I wrote this, a young mother snuggled up on a couch in the library and read aloud to her two little girls. It made me smile.
The first time I experienced the joy of reading was, of course, when I learned to read. Suddenly, the letters of the alphabet I had memorized and recited formed words I could read. And those words were strung together to tell stories that kept me entertained for hours.
In grade school, I devoured the Bobbsey Twins series and later the Nancy Drew collection. In high school, Great Expectations was assigned reading. I wasn’t impressed, so imagine my surprise when I became engrossed in Pip’s story. When we were assigned Of Mice and Men, my best friend and I read it aloud together. She read Lenny’s part. “I remember about the rabbits, George,” she read in a drawl so perfect I could almost see the large, kind, simple-minded character of Lenny in her living room with us. We cried when we finished the book.
If you can, take the time today to celebrate International Literacy Day. Read with your child, grandchild or other child in your life. Or visit your local bookstore and buy a child a book. You won’t be sorry.