Where do you like to crack open your favourite book? At your cabin in the summer or in a hammock on the beach? Maybe in a treehouse or in a quiet corner of the office during a break at work?
Powell River Literacy Council and Peak Publishing are launching Get Caught Reading, a new literacy awareness campaign, to feature all the weird and wonderful places people in Powell River love to read.
There are two parts to this campaign. First, each month a new poster by the literacy council will be displayed around town of local people caught reading in unusual places. Kicking off the campaign this month is Morgan Tyler, age nine, a Grief Point Elementary School student who was recently caught reading in one of her favourite spots, on the trampoline in her backyard.
“I love reading because of the adventures in books,” Morgan said.
She’s a true bookworm, her mom, Debbie Tyler, added. “Morgan was an early reader, and she’s loved reading since she was about four years old.”
The second part of the campaign is a challenge. People are encouraged to take out their cameras and catch someone reading somewhere wacky and send the photo (with the reader’s permission) to [email protected].
Literacy Outreach Coordinator Emma Larocque said the hope is this campaign will be a fun way to bring attention to reading, especially over the summer months while people tend to have more spare time.
“Reading is not just a necessity, it’s a wonderful way to learn about the world,” Larocque said. “When I was a kid I was always getting caught reading under the covers when I was supposed to be sleeping, because I couldn’t put my book down. I just had to find out what happened next…I still love to find books that I can’t put down.”
Reading for pleasure is something people of all ages can enjoy. “To this day reading is one of the things I treasure most,” Larocque continued. “Through this campaign we want to encourage others to tap into this wonderful world, if they haven’t already.”
Photos submitted for the campaign must be in by the 15th day of each month from now until December. Each month one outstanding photo will be chosen and the photographer will win a $25 gift certificate from Breakwater Books and Coffee and have their photo featured on the Literacy Council’s website.
