Read Across Oklahoma is a special reading event directed at young children, and held each year to celebrate literacy and encourage reading.
This year’s Read Across Oklahoma theme, Friends Read Together was inspired by Hannah E. Harrison’s book, Friends Stick Together. The book tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a refined rhino named Rupert and Levi the rambunctious tickbird.
More than 5,500 children and parents celebrated the 13th annual Read Across Oklahoma event on April 9, at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Oklahoma Department of Libraries provided children with free books to encourage family reading! Volunteers set up fun activities for the children including making banks and storytelling bracelets, receiving temporary tattoos, playing literacy games, reading books at story-time stations, dancing to children’s music performed by Spaghetti Eddie, and watching a very special reading of Friends Stick Together, by Oklahoma author and illustrator, Hannah E. Harrison!
Each year, the Read Across Oklahoma event celebrates reading and encourages family reading as a means to build early literacy skills. This event, sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, provides a wonderful opportunity for high school students to get involved as volunteers and mentors. This year, more than 115 students from Capitol Hill High School and Metro Technology Center assisted with the event. This celebration is not possible without them and without our wonderful sponsors. A BIG thanks to the Krueger Foundation, Target, Tinker Federal Credit Union, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden Aquarium, Metropolitan Library Systems, Oklahoma Literacy Coalition, Feed the Children and Oklahoma City Metro Coalition.
View more photos from the 2019 Read Across Oklahoma on Flickr.