Spreading the Love of Reading

On Thursday, April 26, 2012, participants in the Adult Literacy Program of the Fisher Landau Center for the Treatment of Learning Disabilities, which is part of Einstein's Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center, were the beneficiaries of a special book donation. As part of World Book Night, Karen Gardner, associate director of internal and web communications, presented 20 copies of Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to the program. Nine adult learners who take part in the program received copies of the book at the time of the donation, with the rest to be kept in the program's library and made available to other program participants. (Two more program participants received their copies later in the day.)

"The aim of World Book Night is to put books in the hands of individuals who either don't read or read very little, with the hope that they will become more excited about reading and sharing the stories they read," said Ms. Gardner. "I'm one of about 6,000 individuals throughout the U.S. who signed on to be a giver, and the 30 authors whose books are being given out agreed to forego royalties on the special printing of their books, which was paid for by a variety of companies and foundations.

"This is truly wonderful," said Dr. Mary Kelly, director of the adult literacy program. "We recently read excerpts from Ms. Angelou's book, so everyone was thrilled to find that we were getting copies of the book and that each of them now have their very own copy. The World Book Night website talks about spreading the love of reading, person to person, and that is what we hope to achieve through our literacy program as well."

Dr. Mary Kelly and colleague Dr. Jaman Welch (standing) look on as (from left) Norman Grant, Hernan Colon and Prady Mejia check out their copies of <em>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</em>

Dr. Mary Kelly and colleague Dr. Jaman Welch (standing) look on as (from left) Norman Grant, Hernan Colon and Prady Mejia check out their copies of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings