Reading

The child literacy nonprofit Reach Out and Read Alabama is celebrating 15 years in a big way. The organization's Rx for Summer Reading campaign is wrapping up providing access to books for kids and families across the state through doctors and pediatricians.

Reach Out and Read Alabama is announcing more money will go directly toward helping families across the state. The organization is an affiliate of the national nonprofit, Reach Out and Read, which promotes early childhood literacy and healthy early relationships.

The University of Alabama is being recognized for the Certified Academic Language Therapist program, billed as a transformative dyslexia education initiative. UA hosted U.S. Congress Members and dyslexia professionals for a roundtable to discuss the program.

In April 2024, The University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies will award a $15,200 in new, free books to elementary and high school libraries in Alabama via the SLIS Book Bonanza for the Black Belt & Beyond Program.

The City of Birmingham’s Poet Laureate Salaam Green will host a public reading of her new chapbook, “Once Upon a Magic City,” in honor of April’s Poetry Month. The free event will take place on Thursday, April 18, 2024, at the Birmingham Public Library.

Book donations for schools in the thirteen counties along the Black Belt region in Alabama are in the final days of collections. The 18th annual Books for the Black Belt campaign wraps up on Friday, March 1.

Auburn children’s author, Emberly Zellars, will read her debut book, “My Friend Maddy,” at the last installment of the Auburn Public Library’s fall author series. The reading of the picture book is set for Saturday, October 14 at 1 p.m. at the library.

Alabama's school chief says 10,000 or more third graders could be held back this summer as the state begins requiring kids to meet reading benchmarks to move to fourth grade. The requirement takes effect this school year. State lawmakers delayed implementation to give students and schools time to recover from pandemic-related learning losses. The state Board of Education on Thursday approved the score that more than 50,000 students will need to reach to advance to fourth grade. State Superintendent Eric Mackey says board members needed to set a new score because the state changed its reading test to align with the latest standards.

Governor Kay Ivey, alongside elected officials, community leaders and teachers, celebrated the statewide expansion of the program on Wednesday. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library partners with community organizations to provide free books every month to children from birth to age 5.

Two more weeks of story times, art classes, yoga, interactive science activities and more are taking place at a public library in southwestern Alabama.