The Reading Tub, in promoting reading and literacy, is devoted to "Turning a Page... Opening The World."® I recently had the opportunity to talk with the non-profit organization's founder, Terry Doherty, about her labor of love.
How and when did The Reading Tub get started? What’s its mission?
I have always loved to read and, when our daughter joined us in November 2001, I found sharing books with her to be great fun! One day I was talking with my sister-in-law about children's books (positives and negatives) and she suggested I start a website for parents and teachers.
So I did. I found a do-it-yourself website company in June 2003 and started playing around with ideas. The whole thing started out as a hobby site, with some research, and lots of input and creative ideas from two close friends. Within a year, it had started to grow, and authors started to find us. So I married my love of books with my passion for literacy and launched The Reading Tub, Inc. as a non-profit.
Our mission is to give adults (parents, teachers, librarians, tutors, grandparents, et al.) the tools they need for helping kids with reading. The website has two parts. There is what I call the literacy services side: facts about literacy, information about reading with kids, stats, etc. Then there is the reading side: our unique profiles that help parents find books that match their child's interest whether they are an infant being read to, a pre-teen who is reading independently, or a child (of any age) who is struggling with developing their reading skills.
When I started the Reading Tub, I focused on the "learning" aspect of literacy. That's where "Turning a page … Opening the World"® comes from. Get a child to love (or even just like) reading and you will expand his natural curiosity and imagination... and along the way engender a love of learning.
But our goal really is bigger than just learning. It's simply to bring reading home to families. This is my mantra because it is a statement captures the various facets of children's literacy and reading on several levels. We want to...
Encourage parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles to read with the children in their lives … even kids who can read independently can benefit from time shared reading aloud with Mom or Dad.
Help the adults find great books that match their kids' interests and reading levels (and skip the over-hyped stuff!).
Provide information that explains why reading with a child at home is so important.
Post articles and provide links to resources that help parents/grandparents/teachers teach their children to read.
Who are your reviewers and how may an author or publisher contact you about a review request?
Our reviewers are parents who read with their children and kids who are reading themselves. Some of the parents are teachers or former teachers, some are reading mentors, some just like to read books with their kids. It is very important to us that when someone is trying to find a book for a child, that they know what other children think of the book. Professional reviews are great, but getting feedback from the person who is the intended audience is particularly important to us. We try to wear several hats... like the grandparent who wants to find a book for a child, but wants to know what other kids thought about it first.
In March 2004 we partnered with Be the Star You Are!® another non-profit that empowers children and families through positive media. Their message is that to be a leader you must be a reader. BTSYA runs an after-school center for youth at risk, and they created a Teen STAR Book Review Team. We send them books for the 9 to 12 target audience. The kids read the books and write the reviews. I post them on the website with their logo.
Article comments
1 - Susan Berger
This is a wonderful article!
I would like to add a comment to why children struggle to read.
I was a late reader. (I am now a bookaholic)I fould that large print and wide spacing between lines made a big difference.
I loved the childhood of famous Americans series because it had those attributes. I hated the Landmark Biography series because the print was too small and my eyes kept sliding to the wrong line.
A friend of mine recently came up with a way to improve their child's reading skill and I would like to pass it on to as many people as possible. While watching TV, they keep the subtitles turned on. By the time her youngest started Kindergarden, he was reading at a third grade level. You get used to the subtitles very quickly and it is a big help.
2 - Mayra Calvani
Thanks for sharing, Susan! That's a great tip!