Category Archives: literacy

May9

india, take the wheel!

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Wake County Bookmobile driver and librarian India White, July 1966.

White drove the Bookmobile all over the county for over 20 years. Her route changed daily but rotated monthly, visiting mostly rural locations in the county and homes of the elderly or disabled. She had dozens of assistants over the years, many either not able to learn the routes or drive a manual transmission (one of the crucial prerequisites for the job). A life-long resident of Raleigh, she devoted her entire career to the Wake County Library. White died in 2000 at the age of 92.

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“literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. it is a tool for daily life in modern society.

it is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development.

for everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right..

literacy is finally, the road to human progress

and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”

-kofi annan

 

 

 

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credits: vintage america uncovered, state archives of north carolina, news and observer

Apr28

booksellers.

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72-year-old bookseller, Mohamed Aziz, in Rabat, Morocco, spends 6 to 8 hours a day reading books. Having read over 5000 books in French, Arabic, and English, he remains the oldest bookseller in Rabat after more than 43 years in the same location. When asked about leaving his books unattended outside, where they could potentially be stolen, he responded that those who can’t read don’t steal books, and those who can, aren’t thieves.

 

in honor of independent bookstore day, yesterday, and every day

 

 

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credits: s. kahn

Feb7

read aloud.

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*celebrating  world read aloud day

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“we have an obligation to read aloud to our children. to read them things they enjoy. to read to them stories we are already tired of. to do the voices, to make it interesting, and not to stop reading to them just because they learn to read to themselves. use reading-aloud time as bonding time, as time when no phones are being checked, when the distractions of the world are put aside.”

-neil gaiman, english author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre, and screenplays

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*World Read Aloud Day is celebrated on the first Wednesday in February.  This is a day dedicated not just to reading, but to the art and practice of reading aloud. Stories were passed down from generation to generation even before writing was invented. Oral forms of storytelling were the earliest way of preserving human knowledge, insight, and creativity. This day helps us bring this tradition back to reading while promoting literacy.

 

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art credit: ‘gnome’ by rien poortvliet, illustrator

Jul7

in gear.

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what i imagine it looks like inside of our heads –

along with

the scientific explanation for how this all works.

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“it usually helps me write by reading – somehow the reading gear in your head turns the writing gear.”

-steven wright

 

 

 

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image credit: milton bradley game company