I can’t believe I missed it. April 12 was D.E.A.R Day.

D.E.A.R. stands for Drop Everything and Read. National D.E.A.R. Day is a special reading celebration to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority. It’s also the birthday of beloved childrens book author, Beverly Cleary. Ms. Cleary wrote a series of books that inspired the popular movie, Ramona and Beezus. Ramona is the official spokesperson for D.E.A.R.

This is such a fun idea! But it is a little unsettling that we have so many reading programs plus we set aside a special day to focus on and to find joy in reading.

Out-of-school reading habits of students has shown that even 15 minutes a day of independent reading can expose students to more than a million words of text in a year.  -Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988

Leaders and supporters of National Drop Everything and Read Day include: the National Education Association (NEA); Parent Teacher Association (PTA); the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA); Reading Rockets; The General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC); the Newspaper Association of America Foundation (NAA); First Book; HarperCollins Children’s Books.

Ramona tells us that we should make every day a D.E.A.R. Day! That’s great news because I plan to pick up a book and read today!

Did you and your students participate in D.E.A.R. Day? Share your stories here.