Readathon Day January 24, 2015

On Saturday, January 24, 2015 between 12 and 4pm, all you have to do is read. Any time and for however long.

Read a book.

Or a comic.

Or the newspaper.

Something. Anything.

If you’re reading this you are fortunate; you are able. Put that ‘reading’ thing to good use. There are many – too many, in fact – who can’t read. And there are also many – too many, in fact – who don’t read.

To promote reading and fostering literacy nationally, Penguin/Random House, Goodreads, National Book Foundation, Mashable, along with many other reading/book related organizations, are recognizing January 24th, 2015, as National Readathon Day.

As taken from the Canadian Literacy and Learning Network, their Canadian stats show:

*42% of Canadian adults between the ages of 16 and 65 have low literacy skills.
*55% of working age adults in Canada are estimated to have less than adequate health literacy skills. Shockingly, 88% of adults over the age of 65 appear to be in this situation.
*Impoverished adults often do not have the literacy skills required to get into job training programs. They may need literacy skills upgrading before they can succeed in training programs but only about 5 – 10% of eligible adults enroll in programs.
*Less than 20% of people with the lowest literacy skills are employed.
*A 1% increase in the literacy rate would generate $18 billion in economic growth every year.

Find out more about these statistics at http://www.literacy.ca/literacy/literacy-sub/

To find out how you can participate, get involved, and challenge yourself and young readers around you, visit Penguin and Random House and be sure to check out some reading suggestions on Pinterest

Still not enough info? Visit the blog of Tundra Books/Penguin Random House at https://tundrabooks.wordpress.com/ and also this article in the LA Times, here.

So just go read – anything, anywhere, anyhow.

Make #timetoread, and bring a young reader with you.