by Joan Wabschall, RN, MS,
BookSpring Champion.
A friend of mine sent me a book in the mail recently and hoped that I would like it. I did not: I loved it! It is “The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared” by Alice Ozma. I couldn’t help but see the similarity between the story and the philosophy of BookSpring.
The author is nine years old when the story begins and her father is a passionate Middle School Librarian. They make a pact that he will read aloud to her for a minimum of 15-20 minutes over one hundred consecutive days. As her days become filled with more and more extracurricular activities, it becomes harder and harder to fulfill the promise. They succeed, but aren’t satisfied with what they call “the Streak.” They amend the pact to continue for 1,000 days! Can they accomplish their goal?
Life during the Streak isn’t easy. Alice’s mother moves out of the house and leaves her two girls to be raised by a single father. Money is tight and there is never enough to cover all the things she and her sister need. Yet, there are plenty of tender moments with Alice cuddled up to her father, listening to him read from the classics. As you can predict, Alice grows up with a love of reading. She acknowledges that she chose her two middle names to use as her real name. Alice was taken from “Alice in Wonderland”, and Ozma was a character in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz “ series.
The book includes a list of some of the classic books for children she remembers reading as well as a written “Reading Promise” that encourages reading aloud to children every night and supporting reading in the community where you live.
Check out the book, then check out the BookSpring web site. Make reading aloud to children a New Year’s Resolution for the upcoming year! Contact BookSpring to see how you can help.
