Día del Niño — Children’s Day — in Mexico is upon us.
There’s no doubt that children who celebrate Día on both sides of the United States-Mexico border hope that April 30th brings gifts of candy, toys or perhaps coveted items like new sneakers or electronics. But we can do more than just satisfy a sweet tooth or indulge the newest trend; we can give children the gift that lasts a lifetime — a taste for reading.
Día del Niño y la Niña became literacy-focused in 1997 when Pat Mora, poet and author of more than 40 children’s books, wrote, “We have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. We need Kids’ Day too, but I want to connect all children with ‘bookjoy,’ or the pleasure of reading.”
Mora’s message is even more important today. Children need to rediscover the magic and adventures that lie between the covers of a book, because research has shown us that children who read more become better readers.
And children on both sides of the border need to be better readers in order to develop the critical thinking and employability skills that their futures demand. In Mexico, one in three third-grade students cannot comprehend what they read. In the U.S., a full 40% of 4th-grade students fail to meet even basic grade-level reading standards. In reading on the PISA test, 20% of American 15-year-olds read at a 10-year-old’s level.
Although Día del Niño y la Niña is a celebration, it’s a good time to think about these sobering statistics.
Today, Día is a nationally recognized initiative that emphasizes the importance of literacy for all children from all backgrounds. It is a commitment to linking children and their families to diverse books, languages and cultures. But in order to read, children need books, and books are not easily available and accessible to all families.
So, why not consider the gift of books this Día del Niño for the children in your life?
Of course, children who did not grow up with a strong reading culture at home and who have not developed the habit on their own may not want to read — at least until they’ve tried it enough to learn the joy that reading truly is. Again, this is where we adults must incentivize them until reading becomes a habit, or at least a regular activity.
This summer, the binational organization 311Literacy is giving kids access to over 10,000 books.
Kids can participate in The Great Reading Tournament (TGRT), an international competition in English and Spanish that incentivizes reading and rewards readers for the time they spend reading and comprehending what they have read. For just US $10, kids get summer-long access to 10,000 books online in both Spanish and English.
Starting June 15, the tournament’s platform will track the amount of time the kids spend reading, and those who read the most win real prizes. So far, more than 40,000 kids have participated, collectively reading for more than four million minutes.
In the spirit of “it takes a village,” and recognizing that no one in society benefits when the younger generation is less educated than the current one, TGRT also invites corporate and philanthropic organizations to sponsor underserved students who face challenges in accessing the program.
We adults have the power to give los niños the gift of a lifetime: meaningful literacy.
It’s a gift we cannot afford to withhold. On Día del Niño, let’s recognize the significance of children to society, make a fuss over the kids, and give them the best adventure of all: the ability to discover for themselves the joy and power of reading.
