Introducing LitWorld's New Executive Director

The LitWorld team is thrilled to officially announce our new Executive Director, Caitlin Cassaro.

Caitlin Cassaro

Caitlin Cassaro

Caitlin joins LitWorld following an impressive ten years as the Executive Director of Extreme Kids & Crew, an organization dedicated to providing play and arts programing, as well as social-emotional learning and family support, to young people with disabilities. Before Extreme Kids, she served as CFO for Friends of Firefighters, a nonprofit mental health and wellness organization founded in response to the 9/11 attacks, and co-founded the Red Hook Playgroup, a nonprofit progressive community-based preschool. Caitlin is also a dual masters’ (MBA and MSW) recipient.

Caitlin believes deeply that service is successful only when done in collaboration with the people and communities being served. She takes great pride in leading nonprofits with transparency, business acumen, and empathy. She is incredibly honored and excited to step into the role of new Executive Director for LitWorld, an organization that encompasses the values she holds dear, and to partner with the staff and board to drive the mission forward. 

I deeply connect to LitWorld’s mission and appreciate how our community-based programming comes to life through collaboration and respect. To be literate is to be able to read the world around us—to be able to tell our story— and I am honored to be part of the team and to deepen and expand this valuable work.
— Caitlin Cassaro

World Read Aloud Day around the globe!

 
 
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Earlier this February, millions of readers, writers, and storytellers raised their voices for the 14th annual World Read Aloud Day® (WRAD), making this year's celebration one of our biggest yet.

In our WRAD-a-thon alone, over 19 different Scholastic authors and guest readers streamed live on Storyvoice from nine different countries, reaching more than 400,000 readers and 12,000 classrooms!

Stay tuned as we share even more incredible stats and celebrations from the big day, and check out a few highlights from LitWorld's program partners and more organizations from around the globe below!

 
 
 

In Uganda, Art of a Child hosted an incredible World Read Aloud Day celebration for their community with games, reading crowns, and—of course—plenty of read-alouds!

 
 
 

In Pakistan, over 330 people participated as Seeds of Hope Foundation celebrated World Read Aloud Day in the Burj community. The day included games, arts and crafts, a special read-aloud, a parade, and a delicious dinner of chicken biryani.

 
 
 

In Indonesia, World Read Aloud Day events were held far and wide at schools, libraries, and more! Our thanks to @ndoropapih for sharing, and to @readaloudindonesia and all the hard-working volunteers for making these celebrations possible.

 
 
 

In the Philippines, Project PEARLS teamed up with the National Library of the Philippines to host an all-out World Read Aloud Celebration for communities in Tondo and Bulacan including reading crowns, read-alouds, and a parade!