Welcome! We thank you for joining us on our journey
to end illiteracy and close the achievement gap by simply promising to read aloud
to a child for 10 minutes a day. The profound impact of reading aloud was codified
by the Department of Education’s Commission on Reading report of 1985, which concluded
that “The single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual
success in reading is reading aloud to children.”
Read it LOUD!
Foundation and the Center
for the Book in
the Library of Congress have put together an
incomparable coalition of the public
and private sector companies, community organizations, literacy and health experts,
and individuals committed to raising awareness about the untold
benefits that reading aloud has on reading comprehension
and overall success in school, especially during a child’s most formative years
(0-6).
The primary purpose of this unprecedented collaboration is to close the literacy
gap by motivating parents, grandparents, caregivers, etc. to read aloud
to their children and …where needed…to provide them with the books and support needed
to do so.
As you travel throughout this website, you will meet our very impressive list of
founders and
partners and see how they are helping to eradicate illiteracy one child
at a time. They are offering a comprehensive body of content from recommended
books for your child’s age, to guides on how to read and
how to teach your child to read, to diagnostic tools to measure
their reading readiness, to the local and national resources and
incentives vital to reaching our goal of having at least 5 million
parents sign the promise.
Thank you for promising to read aloud to a child for 10 minutes a day and for joining us on our journey to end illiteracy.