Children's Literacy Round-Up: July 21st

Here are the community literacy news stories that caught my eye this week:

• In a particularly tragic story, an elementary school librarian from Seattle, Mary Cooper, and her daughter, Susanna Cooper Stodden, were murdered while hking together on the Pinnacle Lake Trail. Students from the elementary school constructed a memorial for Mary, and her family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Seattle Public Library Foundation for Children's Literacy Programs. How can things like this happen?
• On a brighter note, the Morgan County Citizen has an article about the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy. Robin Ferst was inspired to start the foundation after reading about Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. "In the six years that the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy has been in existence, Robin Ferst has sent 352,000 books to 19,000 children all over Georgia." My favorite part of the article is about how Robin will go to great lengths to sign people up for the program: "I've been known to stick [forms] in baby carriages at Friday night football games," she said. That's determination to help kids have access to books!
• And in Charlotte, NC, kids who are at risk of failing in school are attending literacy camps this summer. You can read about it in an article by David Perlmutt from the July 15th Charlotte Observer. The article cites several kids who have learned to love reading through the program.
• A retired couple, Harry and Lela Schlitz, have been touring southern CA with their retired sled dogs, "to encourage children to read and teach them the importance of teamwork". You can read about them in a July 15th Ventura County Star article by Simona Gallegos.