We love books, we love reading, and we’re certainly fans of Dr. Seuss. This year, we wanted to do something extra special to celebrate the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day on Friday, March 1.
NEA’s Read Across America program lands on Dr. Seuss’s birthday and aims to encourage kids of all ages to get excited about reading through local reading events and reading resources. And we are all for that! Now in its 16th year, Read Across America festivities have spilled to outside the U.S. (despite its name) and bookworms in over twenty-four countries continue to participate. Therefore, it should actually be renamed Read Across the Entire World. But that doesn’t seem to have the same ring to it.
The root of reading is of course writing, and one of our favorite nonprofits in town, where a handful of Knock Knockers love to volunteer at is 826LA, an organization with the mission of cultivating creative writing skills in children and teenagers through inventive workshops and after school tutoring. One of their programs is called “Chapbooks, Chapbooks, Chapbooks (and ‘Zines),” wherein the kids, with the help of 826LA volunteers, write, revise, and publish their own pocket-sized book.
So to celebrate Read Across America—other than cracking open and reading our favorite novel—we thought we’d bring this whole shebang full-circle and donate fifty Knock Knock This . . . or That? Activity Books to 826LA’s Mar Vista location, which is just a hop and a skip away from our own office. They’re wrapping up their own chapbooks, which revolve around a “Denver, Colorado” theme (that city’s zip code is 80206—those clever kids). At their book release party on March 21, each kid will receive a This or That? Activity book to not only reward them for their hard work, but to also keep their creativity going! (Pictures to come!)
And for all of our fans, in honor of Read Across America Day, we’re offering 25% off the This . . . or That? Book from Monday, Feb. 25 through Tuesday, March 5. Just use code READ at checkout! (Limit one per customer.)
So, what book are you reading to celebrate with us? Tell us in a comment!