The Big Read - Global Action Week

April 20-24 was Global Action Week--a global campaign to raise awareness of the 75 million children and 747 million adults who do not have access to the basic human right of education. The goal of the campaign is also to remind governments of their commitments to the funding of literacy and education programs nationally and internationally.

A big part of Global Action Week is The Big Read, an event that happened world-wide on April 22, in which our school took part. The Global Campaign for Education and other partners in Global Action Week created a wonderful, life-changing on-line book of short stories about how education improves our lives and makes the world a better place. These stories are written and contributed by some pretty remarkable people, both Canadian (like Eric Walters, Frank B. Edwards and Francoise Lepage), and international (for instance, Paulo Coelho, Nelson Mandela, and Michael Morpugo).

Here at NBCHS, the Big Read was a real success. On April 22, throughout the school, over 200 students (adding to the 10 million participants world-wide) got together in small groups to listen to local actors, playwrites and education professionals read stories from The Big Read Book, discuss what literacy means in our lives, and sign a petition asking our government to do all it can to ensure that all people have the chance to go to school and learn to read. It was gratifying to hear the students' responses to the stories, and their connection to the cause. This is definitely an event that I would recommend other school librarians get involved in annually!

Pictures to follow when I get them.