March Is National Reading Month!

March is one of my favorite months. National Reading Month! National Reading Month was created to honor famous children’s author Dr. Suess’s birthday. He wrote classic books like “The Cat In The Hat.” In 1984, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his efforts to educate children and their parents in America. To celebrate National Reading Month, people read as much as possible, especially young people and children. In my years of teaching in public schools, I’ve found that many people feel like reading is boring and uninteresting which is unfortunate. Reading helps develop your mind, it improves comprehension, critical thinking and the ability to analyze. It also increases and boosts memory and imagination!

I think it’s safe to say that many of us take reading for granted. Particularly African-Americans. According to nationaltoday.com, the first written communication wasn’t until 3500 B.C. and the first books didn’t come out until 23 B.C. Only the privileged and wealthy were taught how to read. And books were expensive since they were copied by hand so only the rich could afford them or had time to read them! When the printing press was created in the 15th century, reading became more accessible and the literacy rate went up. This wasn’t the case with American slaves however, as it was against the law to teach them how to read.

In this day and age, although many people know how to read, the average American reads at approximately the 7th grade level. This is the grade most of us learn to read by, but since they never practice it outside of school they don’t really get better at it!

This is one of the reasons why I started The Frederick Douglass Reading Society (FDRS), a program in my non - profit tutoring and mentoring organization, Touchstone Tutoring & Mentoring Services, Inc. The FDRS is dedicated to promoting reading in the community among all age ranges as a means of furthering education and for enjoyment. My years in the classroom has taught me that the single greatest thing that can drive achievement, especially amongst youth, is becoming a consistent reader. Unfortunately in too many cases, it is taught and presented so poorly that it is thought of as boring, hard and uninteresting.

So, why should we embrace reading during National Reading Month and throughout the rest of the year? Well, there are numerous reasons, but reading is an excellent way to relax, reduce stress and unwind: in order to read a book, you have to relax your body, and your mind does most of the work. So, it’s an excellent activity to do in a comfy place like bed, a hot bath or cozy couch! Reading will help improve vocabulary so you can express yourself better. It stimulates imagination which makes you more creative and resourceful: especially useful traits for young people. And lastly for now, it’s a great activity to do alone or in groups. Reading can really be fun in groups. It becomes a social activity and can help prompt some very interesting, meaningful discussions.

Time to wrap up for now. So, until next time, happy National Reading Month! Go out and enjoy a good book and share them with your friends, family and loved ones today!