By Nacole Vickery and Denise Gary
Photographs by Denise Gary and Lori Cothrun
Kids Need to Read was excited to celebrate its partnership with Mesa Arts Center by participating in two of their recent events: Educator Preview Night and the 2016 Season Kickoff. This is KNTR’s fourth year to provide books for the center’s ProjectLit initiative (formerly known as Literacy through the Arts) and we have enjoyed the partnership immensely!
During Educator Preview Night, our table featured information on KNTR’s literacy activities with MAC, the various story times we offer, and the READ Together program. We spoke with visiting educators regarding the benefits of our programs and how we could best serve their students.
Parking The Page Coach at the 2016 Season Kickoff was terrific, as KNTR’s mobile outreach vehicle is a wonderful ambassador for the organization! We provided children with a variety of books on writing, music, drama, and art, as well as Highlights magazines. Many caregivers appreciated the bilingual Family Reading Tips flyer we handed out. The kickoff was fantastic, with all manner of fun entertainment, and folks were astonished by the beautiful books we had for the kids.
We ran into author Tom Leveen and his wife Joy at the Season Kickoff, proudly displaying Tom’s newest YA novel, Hellworld. Tom is the writer of many excellent YA novels and is a much-valued KNTR Advisory Council member.
Many thanks to our partners at Mesa Arts Center, as well as reading resource contributors GreaterGood.org and Highlights for Children!
