Literacy

DC has ranked as the most literate city in the US for the the second year in  row. Considering the fact that it appears that no one in Congress reads the laws they vote on, this is remarkable news. Seattle, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Boston filled out the top 5. The list covers 75 cities in the US, and at the bottom are Fresno, Stockton, El Paso, Corpus Christi, and Bakersfield.

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I hope you’re not too attached to that little toy that comes in Happy Meals; it’s going away for a while.  The UK branch of McDonald’s hs replaced it with a book. They’re currently giving away 9,000,000 copies of the Mudpuddle Farm book series by British author Michael Morpurgo.

This program was created in partnership with HarperCollins and the UK nonprofit National Literacy Trust. It started last week, and it is scheduled to run until 7 February. It follows research released by the NLT in December that nearly third of children in the UK do not own even a single book.

Jonathan Douglas, Director of The National Literacy Trust, commented: “Our recent research showed that one in three children in this country don’t own a book, which is extremely concerning as there is a clear link between book ownership and children’s future success in life.  We are very supportive of McDonald’s decision to give families access to popular books, as its size and scale will be a huge leap towards encouraging more families to read together.”

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Goodreads announced this week that it is giving back to the community.  It will donate books to First Book, a non-profit literacy program, and it wants Goodreads members to show how much they care.

You can help by adding the book A Visit from the Goon Squad to your bookshelf on Goodreads. It’s promised to donate 1 thousand books to First Book for every 10,000 members who participate. Over 25 thousand members have already added the book, so Goodreads has promised to donate a minimum of 2,000 books.

First Book is dedicated to making sure that all children in the US and Canada have access to books. It works with schools and community programs in low-income communities to bring children a steady supply of new books.

via Goodreads

image by Librarian In Black