In his memoir, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft,” Stephen King says, “books are a uniquely portable magic.” You would be hard-pressed to find a student at the Tisbury School who would disagree.
The Tisbury School has been celebrating World Read Aloud Day for the past few years, but the school decided to amp up its celebration Friday with decorations, activites, and, of course, reading. World Read Aloud Day is an event founded by Lit World, a literacy nonprofit, that encourages reading, writing, and storytelling around the world.
In the afternoon, students in the upper grades went to the school’s library to read books to younger students. The school also continued its traditions of having guest readers in the classrooms, and name tag stickers with popular book characters.
During the afternoon, students in the kindergarten classes darted around the library to pick a book and have an older student or member of the staff act as a reading buddy to read to them.
Jena Cleary, 6, had a tough time choosing between several books before going with a compendium of Disney princesses. Finn Hall, also 6, picked up a book on dinosaurs due to his passion for raptors, but exchanged it for “Pinocchio.”
There was a feeling of excitement in the school, because this year each classroom decorated its doors with literary themes as part of a schoolwide contest. There were awards for “Best Use of Student Work,” “Best Aligned,” and “Most Creative.”
One door was covered with partially burned book pages and matches for Ray Bradbury’s novel “Fahrenheit 451.” Other doors featured “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” “The Hunger Games,” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
There was one unique take on J.D. Salinger’s classic, “The Catcher in the Rye,” featuring a picture of a baseball catcher surrounded by images of Pepperidge Farm rye bread.
The school also held its first “Great Reading Relay Race,” which had each classroom reading R.J. Palacio’s “We’re All Wonders” and passing it on to another class, so the whole school got to have a guest reader read them the book.
This year marks World Read Aloud Day’s 10th global anniversary. Lit World, which was created in 2007, focuses on promoting the idea of literacy as a basic human right.
“World Read Aloud Day is important because it is a day to celebrate books and reading, not just at Tisbury School, but all over the world,” Tisbury librarian Whitney Burke said. “All these activities were meant to celebrate reading, and encourage discussion about books. It’s a dynamic way for students to interact with literature and book characters.”
