Nothing captures the essence of World Read Aloud Day better than our international partners and friends who have brought the spirit of this day to their corners of the globe!
We are so grateful to our international partners not only for bringing WRAD to their local communities, but for continuing to extend the joy of reading and the advocacy for literacy all year long by providing programs where young people can have a space to read, learn, and share stories together.
We also want to extend our gratitude to LitWorld friends around the world who organized beautiful celebrations! We love to see all the different ways in which each community chose to bring WRAD to life.
For 15 years, Lindsey Manwell has been at the heart of World Read Aloud Day™ with her vibrant illustrations. As we celebrate the 15th anniversary of WRAD, we’re thrilled to feature an exclusive interview with Lindsey, exploring her creative purpose, favorite illustrations from the past 15 years, and the enduring power of art in encouraging a love for reading.
Dear LitWorld Friend,
We are honored to have been invited to participate as a charity partner in this year’s United Airlines NYC Half, an annual race that attracts more than 24,000 runners, and is hosted by New York Road Runners.
At LitWorld, our mission is to strengthen kids and communities through the power of stories, a mission that aligns with New York Road Runners' vision to build healthier lives and stronger communities through the transformative power of running.
Are YOU interested in supporting LitWorld’s mission while meeting that New Year’s resolution? Let us help! We have 5 bibs available for serious runners ready to participate in the marathon and peer-to-peer fundraising on behalf of LitWorld.
It may be the holiday season, but here at LitWorld, we have our sights set on our favorite holiday of the year: World Read Aloud Day!
Mark your calendars for February 5th, 2025, and get ready to join thousands of people around the world as we collectively celebrate the power of stories.
Pam's book offers a resource to parents and educators everywhere on nurturing and supporting their child or student's love for writing. She provides five keys to help kids WRITE: Word Power, Ritual, Independence, Time, and Environment, and reminds us that writing is an essential part of self-discovery and critical to success later in life.
Check out Pam's speaking schedule on her website to find out when and where she'll be next: http://pamallyn.com/speaking/
See you there!
Dear Friends,
Over these past three years, we have made trips to the Red Rose School in Kibera, Kenya to help grow strong teachers and literacy leaders of all ages, build strength through LitClubs, and establish a new library for the children and teens. The resilience, optimism and joy radiating from the amazing Red Rose community is overwhelming every time we connect with them virtually, but especially when we see one another face to face on these trips. The children and adults alike soak up the read alouds, and they write in their journals without ever wanting to stop.
In November, Pam will return to Red Rose to visit our LitClub girls and boys and the beloved teachers and staff. She is traveling with Jeremy Kohomban, the CEO of our dear partner organization in New York, Children's Village, and a small LitWorld delegation, to come together to work, sing, grow, and laugh.
One big goal of this trip is to exponentially expand the library we have started at Red Rose. To achieve this, we are holding a book drive hosted by the Hue-Man Bookstore to gather books for the library, and for our LitClubs in Kibera. You can place an order and contribute to the drive by calling Hue-Man at 212-665-7400 or by visiting the store in person:
Hue-Man Bookstore & Cafe
2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd (Between 124th and 125th Streets)
New York, NY 10027
With gratitude and kind wishes,
The LitWorld Team
Our LitCorps Ambassador in Manila Philippines, Ruby Veridiano, has joined The Girl Effect and writer, speaker, and educator Tara Sophia Mohr in this month's blogging campaign on behalf of girls worldwide!
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It's more urgent than ever to offer girls new armor to protect the woman she is destined to become. I believe that every girl needs the kind of armor that is made of seven strengths: belonging, curiosity, sisterhood, kindness, confidence, courage, and hope.
These seven strengths are the kind of values that I teach when I work with young girls like Natalie. Through the work I do with the Girls LitClubs project through Global Literacy Organization LitWorld, I am being granted an opportunity to build a protective, lifesaving device for young girls, arming them with a strong sense of worth, determination, and self-love. I am able to give her one of the most valuable gifts any girl can have: a space where she is celebrated and honored for being who she is, and for the incredible potential she holds. This is the spirit of THE GIRL EFFECT, a ripple that will create waves for young women the world over.
To read more, visit Ruby's blog here.
To join the The Girl Effect and Tara Sophia Mohr's blogging campaign, visit here.
We are so proud that this year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to three inspiring, courageous women, including LitWorld friend Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female President of Africa (Liberia). She has been awarded along with her compatriot, the peace activist Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, a pro-democracy campaigner. The women have been awarded for their nonviolent role in promoting peace, democracy and gender equality. We are proud of these amazing female trailblazers lighting up the path for women across the world!
On September 22, 2011, LitWorld felt the powerful impact of a shared experience...
Watch our 1-minute Stand Up for Girls video with photos and videos of YOU, standing up all around the world. You stood for girls who struggle in the face of educational inequality and injustice.
Now...
Let's keep standing.
Save the Date for our next big advocacy day, our very own World Read Aloud Day: March 7, 2012!
In partnership with Unite for Literacy and the Pearson Foundation's We Give Books, thousands of books were sent to the community of the Navajo Nation on Read for the Record Day. A beautiful day for reading, filled with smiles!
LitWorld's treasured partner, Broadway Housing Communities, is featured today in the New York Times in a beautiful, spot-on piece by Charles Blow. We highly recommend that you check out this article on an incredibly inspiring New York City force of good.
"Around the corner came a little golden ball of sunshine named Madison, dressed head to toe in pink, hair arranged in Afro puffs, one wrist covered in turquoise beaded bracelets, arms opened wide. She wrapped those arms around a teacher's legs, hugged them close and looked up with the kind of smile that sets the world right.
Madison is 4 years old. She is happy and thriving. This is her second year of Head Start in the basement of a building that houses the poor and homeless in one of Manhattan's poorest neighborhoods.
I met Madison and 50 other little rays of hope at the Dorothy Day Apartments on Riverside Drive in West Harlem. The building is the sixth in the neighborhood run by Broadway Housing Communities, and the first to include a day care center serving both the building and the community. This former drug den is not only beautiful, but it also pulses with pride and hope and happiness.
It's just what I needed to see. Writing about children and the poor and the vulnerable these days, there aren't very many bright spots — but this is one.
The children are bathed by natural light that floods into the basement through skylights. The floors are covered by beautiful green ceramic tile made to look like slate. The walls are painted a sunrise yellow, lined with thick wooden moldings and covered with well-framed pieces of art — some by the children, some donated. The courtyard, which had been filled with six feet of garbage, is covered with mats and used as an area where wee little legs that barely have kneecaps can be folded into funky shapes for daily yoga."
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