Barbara Reid Celebrates Family Literacy Day with The Children’s Book Bank

Jan 29

The Children’s Book Bank celebrated Family Literacy Day on Saturday, January 24 by hosting a special storytime brunch with award-winning Toronto author and illustrator Barbara Reid.

Despite the cold, snowy weather, 60 attendees joined us in the Daniels Spectrum Community Living Room for a cozy storytime followed by hands-on literacy activities and a pancake breakfast courtesy of Carousel Café.

As the Honorary Chair of Family Literacy Day, Barbara encouraged families to embrace this year’s theme: “make mealtime family learning time.” She shared how everyday activities can become learning opportunities, explaining that “the kitchen is the best classroom in the house. It’s the perfect place to build lifelong literacy skills. Cooking and eating together naturally blends reading, writing, math, science, and communication into everyday life.”

After breakfast, families participated in literacy-based activities inspired by food and storytelling including a plasticine art station. Here families were invited to recreate their favourite meals in the style of Barbara’s illustrations.

In addition to selecting books from the Regent Park Book Bank, each child in attendance also received a free copy of one of Barbara’s classic books thanks to a generous donation by Scholastic Canada. To encourage further learning, each family went home with a recipe booklet created by The Children’s Book Bank. This booklet, available for download here, includes fun mealtime activities you can try at home to support literacy.

Family Literacy Day may be over but as Barbara shared, “literacy is something to celebrate every day because learning together as a family helps build strong literacy skills for adults and kids.”