A book. A graphic novel. Instructions on putting together an Ikea shelf. Somebody’s Twitter feed. This newspaper.
These are just a few suggestions for what you can read for 15 minutes on Friday. The St. Albert Public Library is hoping that you and everyone in your family will do just that and then log your time for an informal competition as a way of celebrating Family Literacy Day.
“People can read anything,” stated Heather Dolman, the library’s public services manager.
Last year, the challenge started informally between a few libraries in Alberta but it was organized too late for many to get involved, including this city’s library. It has since become more of a formal but still friendly competition.
“There’s a lot of different Alberta communities on board to see whose community has the greatest percentage of readers during that day.”
The village of Donalda won the inaugural battle but certainly the town was helped by its relatively modest population of 270.
“It’s small! They had 62.22 per cent of their population reading. Calgary did participate last year. They had 0.41 per cent.”
To help the public enjoy as much opportunity to enjoy literacy, the library has its regular slate of Friday storytimes along with some additional ones that have been scheduled in as well. All told, the library has storytimes for Ladybugs (for toddlers from 13 to 23 months) and Fawns (two-year-olds) plus two drop-in storytimes, Book Buzz (grades 1 to 6), and two fun events: giant board games and Nerf Wars.
After all that reading, it’s up to you to log in the results by reporting it on the library’s event page at www.sapl.ca, calling the library at 780-459-1530, emailing [email protected], or by posting it to social media with the hashtag #readfor15stalbert.
“We’re asking everybody to let us know when they’ve read for 15 minutes, anytime from midnight to midnight.”
There are no prizes necessarily, although reading is its own reward.
“I do believe there is a little shiny trophy of sorts but really it’s just the competition and the challenge and the fun, the promotion of family literacy and all of the benefits there are with it,” Dolman concluded.
STAR Literacy will also have a presence at the library on Sunday with its Whiz-Bang Scrabble Mega open-Scrabble board.
People can read more about Family Literacy Day by visiting www.abclifeliteracy.ca/family-literacy. And yes, reading about literacy counts too.
