500 kids get free books for Pittsburgh's regional "Won't You Be a Reader?" literacy campaign
Five hundred children got a free book on Friday to kick off a regional literacy campaign called "Won't You Be a Reader?" The free Scholastic Book Fair happened at the Museum Lab at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh on the North Side.
Pittsburgh First Lady Katie O'Connor read to the kids and said research shows reading is critical to kids' cognitive development and can significantly impact their future.
"Giving kids a book is a tool," O'Connor said. "It's a tool to unlocking a bigger, better, brighter future. This is the way we can reverse cycles of poverty through something this simple. It is a tool that is critical to making sure that kids here in Pittsburgh, and frankly all over, have an opportunity to achieve the things they want to achieve."
O'Connor says for her personally, reading is also about bonding with her children. Reading together creates special moments and memories.
She became an avid reader as a child in part because her mom always had books around. She says her mom would buy her a book instead of a toy at the grocery store — something she now sees as a great way to encourage reading. She would frequently read at home and in downtime, like when she was at her siblings' sports practices.
This event is just the start of the campaign's donation of 15,000 books to 10,000 students across the region. The campaign is spearheaded by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and funded by The Grable Foundation. There will be many more events throughout the year, including the Jerome Bettis Summer Reading Challenge and "Literacy Under the Lights" this fall.
The event is in support of Remake Learning Days, happening now through May 23. Find out about all the more than 270 events for Remake Learning Days and the literacy campaign at Kidsburgh's website, kidsburgh.org.
