At Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) we know how important it is to make reading an everyday part of summer fun. When school ends, students turn their attention to outdoor activities and vacation plans, but reading shouldn’t drop out of the picture! It’s critically important that we drive reading motivation all summer long with fun and engaging books and reading activities. In this newsletter, you'll find RIF's favorite summer reads and activities to inspire reading for all children and to support educators and families to create an ongoing culture of literacy.
This summer, RIF is inviting children across the nation to take a reading road trip! RIF is packing everything students need to spend their summer visiting exciting destinations and to keep students reading all summer long!
From California to Washington, D.C., students can travel across the country with great books and related reading fun. We are also featuring some books from Skybrary, RIF's eBook service that enables students to read anytime, anywhere. If you are not already a Skybrary user, create a new account today and enter the promo code SUMMER for 20% off a one year subscription to almost 1,000 eBooks and hundreds of real-world virtual field trips.
Visit RIF's Summer Reading Road Trip
RIF is deeply honored to be recognized, along with our partner Macy’s, as a Gold Halo Award recipient by Engage for Good. Our 2021 Back-to-School Round Up Campaign with Macy's deeply impacted children’s literacy by providing significant funding for programming and resources.
The Halo Awards are North America’s highest honor for corporate social impact initiatives that showcase outstanding consumer engagement or employee engagement efforts. This year marks the 20th year that Engage for Good has rewarded businesses and nonprofits with Halo Awards for doing well by doing good. We greatly appreciate our work being recognized and are excited to continue the great collaboration with Macy’s through a new campaign in July.
June 19, 2022 is Father's Day and a chance to honor the dads, papas and others who are like fathers with a carefully curated collection of books.
View the Collection
This May, RIF welcomed to our office in Washington, D.C. renowned author and illustrator, Hudson Talbott. In addition to creating a read-aloud of his award-winning book, A Walk in the Words, Mr. Talbott also let us catch up with him on his journey to becoming an author and illustrator and how he sees the opportunities his dyslexia has created for him.
Question: What Inspired You to Write A Walk in the Words?
Oh of course I was already writing and illustrating books for kids for 20 years or more when I suggested this book idea to my editor – and she loved it right away! She immediately wanted to do it because she said there is such a need for it out there. There are no books (on this picture book age level) that addresses the issue of slow reading, dyslexia or whatever you’d like to call it.
I said you know what – this is really MY story! It’s what I was feeling and thinking and experiencing when I was growing up learning to read -and seeing everybody else was a lot faster than I was. Feeling really slow because I was a slow reader.
I discovered as I went on in age that I wasn’t slow at all. Just because I read slower didn’t make me slow. And so I think I did it because I don’t want anybody to feel that way. I didn’t want any kids to grow up feeling they’re slower than anybody else just because they read at their own pace and that might be a slower reader than other people.
So that’s the long answer – but I think that’s really what inspired me to do this book. I want people to enjoy reading as much as I do now. EVEN if I’m the slowest reader in the class still.
Our thanks again to Hudson Talbott for spending time with RIF. Be sure to check out his book in Literacy Central and look for more of our interview coming soon!
Visit a Walk in the Words on Literacy Central
The “Summer Slide” is upon us and children are at risk of losing 2-3 months of essential reading skills they worked so hard to acquire during the school year. Support RIF and you can help keep kids growing and learning by putting new books into their hands.
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We see the positive impact of Reading Is Fundamental through the stories you provide and we love to hear from you. We want to hear how RIF has impacted you or a child in your life. Please email your story and photos to us. Thank you in advance for sharing!
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