(
(WestSide Books, Oct 2011)
To scan the QR, you need a smartphone and a barcode app such as 
SkinWalkers: 
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a campaign to encourage people to read aloud to kids?
Jen Robinson has a wonderful, thoughtful post and discussion going on at her blog, about how can we encourage reading aloud. Most of us agree that it’s important to read aloud to kids, to help them learn to love reading. Check out Jen’s post for some inspiring ideas, or to join in on the discussion.
I *love* the idea of an international campaign to encourage kids to read. I’m thinking internet ads, maybe an email ad, even radio…. Bookstore bookmarks, or printable bookmarks, that kind of thing.
What do you think? How would you encourage parents and others to read aloud to kids? Do you like the idea of a campaign?
my 
February 1st, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I love the idea of a campaign.
I also think it would be really cool to have a collection of audio files – a new one each day – where parents or teachers or book reviewers or anyone interested in reading aloud would contribute their reading of a section of a book aloud – no more than a couple pages. The purpose would be two fold. A)Listeners would have to try to identify the book the passage was being read from, and B) the passage chosen would be tempting so it would encourage kids to pressure parents to find the book and keep reading! So it could be a contest AND a reading incentive. It could be a lot of fun. I LOVE listening to people read and I love reading aloud. It would be good to set up passages for middle school kids too because that’s often when people stop reading to their children.
February 1st, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Janice, that’s a fantastic idea! I love the idea of audio files–easy to upload, fun to listen to. And fun to try to figure out what book it is! I agree, too, that it could get kids and other readers interested in that book.
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for writing about this, Cheryl. And for the neat suggestion, Janice. It’s been great to see so much energy around this whole topic – I think it’s going to really go places.
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
You’re very welcome, Jen. You do such great stuff on your blog about reading and children’s books! I’m glad to spread the word.