Reading in the Mall

  • By Curtis Robert Tyree
  • November 24, 2010
  • 277
                        
“Reading is the foundation of all learning which makes it important that children learn to read as early as possible,” said Cindy Laughlin, director of Even Start of Tuscarawas County and board member of the Tuscarawas County Literacy Coalition during the Even Start Family Reading Festival, Saturday November 6 at New Towne Mall. “This was our tenth annual reading festival, it’s a free event where everyone can have fun. There was face painting, free books, readers reading and book giveaways for every child,” continued Laughlin. “The children got to meet story characters Clifford, Curious George and Cat in the Hat, they were all here. We also had many, many giveaways.” Along with focusing on reading, there were many different things for the entire family to do. There was a “creation station” which allowed children to explore their creativity and work with volunteers on creating different kinds of crafts. For the parents there was “agency alley” which had on-hand representatives from different agencies within the county to assist parents or guardians with any inquiries. “Even Start is family literacy program for families, parents and children through the age seven,” said Laughlin. “We wanted to promote reading in a fun way, to have a fun, free day for kids and their parents and to promote literacy and hope they get a love of reading. “Attendance has been much larger this year. Our success is gauged upon how many books we’ve given away, and last year we gave away around 850 books but this year we’ve given away many more than that. The books came from donations, grants from various organizations along with a big book-drive Walden Books did.” The main draw for the Reading Festival was a large interactive screen that showed the pages from the books being read throughout the afternoon. Along with the readings, other events such as face-painting, balloon twisting, and fingerprinting for the children. “The Tuscarawas County Library has been involved with the Even Start Family Reading Festival since it began ten years ago,” said Michelle Ramsell, Director of the Library. “It’s important for kids to know how to read and events such as this help us continue our advocacy for literacy within Tuscarawas County.” “This is the first time I brought my kids to the Reading Festival, it was great,” said Jackie Hill. “It’s great that they had the free books for the kids and had so much for the kids to do, I will definitely be bringing my kids back next year.”


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