Comments on: on donating books and books changing lives

By: Cat

Cat — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:29:52 +0000

What a great name, “Read to Grow”.

Was impressed with a piece I heard recently on Public Radio’s “This American Life” about a “Baby College” for parents set up in Harlem. Turns out that a kid’s success in school is not so much based on economics, race or parental eduation, but on language- the more a parent talks and reads to a child, the more words a kid hears early in life, the better they will do in school.

By: alice

alice — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:28:15 +0000

Kay, that is so wonderful. It reminds me of the age-old power of the storyteller to spellbind and carry people off. And in the group, each member becomes a storyteller for awhile. I know it sounds trite, but it’s. . . lovely, in the most profound way.

By: kay

kay — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:35:08 +0000

Being read to is good for everyone! At Harbor Health, a state-funded shelter for victims of serious mental illness in Branford, they hold “book group” once a week. Clients gather to sit in a circle and take turns reading aloud to each other. They just finished the first Harry Potter novel and are beginning Dewey (about a library cat). Good YA’s are their favorites. By reading aloud they relax and listen to each other, take turns in a calm “conversation”, and lose their demons for a time. They don’t discuss. The ‘family’ just gathers and reads together.

By: alice

alice — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:47:05 +0000

I advocate reading as a family for as long as kids will put up with it. We’ve moved to adult books, and my teenagers still enjoy a good yarn with a parent along for the ride.

By: debbie

debbie — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:08:10 +0000

Here, here! There is simply no subsitute for “family reading time”, with a real, tactile book. Read to Grow and other organizations like it do such important work.