National Family Literacy Day was created by ABC Canada and Honda Canada in 1999 to encourage all Canadians to make literacy a priority. In Hamilton, today’s celebration has grown into a week-long celebration of reading, with a kickoff, a series of Hamilton Families Read readings by authors, and the Snuggle Up and Read parties.
If you see parents and children wearing their pyjamas all over Hamilton tomorrow, it’s not because they’re sleepwalking.
A city-wide pyjama party, called Snuggle Up and Read, will visit schools, libraries and community agencies as part of Hamilton’s expansion of National Family Literacy Day, held today, January 27.
“My dream is that one day hockey clubs and gymnastics organizations will pause to read stories for one night,” said Evette Sauriol, an early literacy specialist at Affiliated Services for Children and Youth.
National Family Literacy Day was created by ABC Canada and Honda Canada in 1999 to encourage all Canadians to make literacy a priority. In Hamilton, today’s celebration has grown into a week-long celebration of reading, with a kickoff, a series of Hamilton Families Read readings by authors, and the Snuggle Up and Read parties.
“Family Literacy Day, now in its 12th year, continues to be an important initiative because low literacy is a daily challenge for four out of 10 adult Canadians aged 16-65,” said ABC Canada president Margaret Eaton.
Locally, literacy is especially important. Hamilton's Literacy Council reports that 60 per cent of city residents have difficulty reading and writing even simple material, significantly higher than the national average of 47 per cent.
Monday’s kickoff at Image Honda, a co-founding sponsor of the national event, saw the Hamilton Public Library encourage at least 15 minutes of daily reading. About 50 Queen Victoria elementary students attended for stories, a puppet show, a musical performance and more.
“Literacy is the basis of all learning and that is why it is important to involve children early,” Image Honda general manager Gord Albini said. “Our community is home to many new Canadians and we feel that it is important to support the goal of improving literacy skills.”
Hamilton’s week-long line-up of events evolved out of the close partnership built through Early Literacy Hamilton. ELH is a collaborative effort by 30 professionals working on early literacy in Hamilton, with partners including school boards, child care providers and many others.
“This year’s theme (courtesy of ABC Canada) is Sing for Literacy,” explains ELH chair Jennifer Powell-Fralick, supervisor of the early learning and child care program at Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.
The theme highlights the idea that literacy can come in many forms, including in song, as was the case with the kickoff appearance by the children’s band Turkey Rhubarb. For a listing of events across Canada visit the Family Literacy Day website.
Today will see hundreds of events across Canada. See a listing of events at Family Literacy Day's website.
“In Hamilton we are quite fortunate that we all work so collaboratively,” said Laura Lukasik, who oversees communications and community development at Hamilton Public Library.
She was responsible for inviting authors for the Hamilton Families Read book readings this week. They include Jo Ellen Bogart, Hugh Brewster, Heather Collins, Rob Laidlaw, Andrew Larsen, Jeremy Tankard and Werner Zimmerman.
Contact the HPL for details on local readings.
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