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UIS to participate in national “Read-In” program

January 28, 2005

SPRINGFIELD - Students, faculty, and staff from the University of Illinois at Springfield will join over a million readers from across the nation in the 16th Annual African American Read-In on Monday, February 7. That day, members of the UIS community will visit six area elementary schools to read to assemblies of students.

The event is sponsored by the Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English and the NCTE in observance of Black History Month. It is also endorsed by the International Reading Association. 

The NCTE Read-In is designed to celebrate black writers and their contributions to literature. This year, UIS has chosen to read the works of Virginia Hamilton. Books used in the Read-In will be donated to the schools’ libraries.

Hamilton, who died in 2002, was the author of many children’s books, including collections of African-American folktales, and two works of nonfiction. Her novels were often cited by critics for exploring new ground and for presenting “some of the strongest, most interesting characters in children’s literature.” Her works include the novels Zeely, Cousins, The House of Dies Drear, and The Planet of Junior Brown. Her collections of folktales include In the Beginning, The People Could Fly, and When Birds Could Talk and Bats Could Sing.

Read-in sites are Jane Addams Elementary, Elizabeth Graham Elementary, Ridgely Elementary, Enos Elementary, and Feitshans-Edison Magnet School – all in Springfield – and Farmingdale Elementary in Pleasant Plains. An estimated 2,600 students and their teachers will participate. 

This annual event of the Public Policy High School Initiatives program, part of UIS’ Center for State Policy and Leadership, honors Black History Month by making new curriculum resources and lesson plans available to participating teachers and schools, as well as through the donations of books to school libraries.

For more information about the UIS read-in effort, contact coordinator Peggy Dunn at (217) 206-7398. For details about the national read-in, go to www.ncte.org/prog/readin/107901.htm.