Skip to content

Pick up and read a book for Literacy Month

With book bins offering free books and tons of book sales around, reading is more accessible for the masses.

It’s September and it’s also Literacy Month – a far cry from a time when the extent of one’s ability to read was by the depth of their pockets, alas, no longer, as the only thing a book is going to cost you is a simple walk.

No, really. It’s free.

Well Read Books and The Next Chapter will be donating books to the annual Sooke Region Literacy Project’s Book Bin program, which, in a nutshell, collects books from the community and for the community.

After all, national literacy numbers are, well, not great. Research shows that 40 per cent of adults in B.C. – and more than 35 per cent of working age people – lack the necessary literary skills they need to function in modern society, such as applying for a job, completing higher education, filling a medical form or even reading a newspaper.

In wake of this, the Sooke Region Literacy Project was launched in 2008 to raise awareness of literacy and to develop strategies and initiatives to meet the learning needs of people with low literacy skills. It works to improve literacy in a variety of capacities, including reading, writing, computers, financial competency and health literacy.

And it can all start with a single book.

“Imagine how many books people have that are just sitting around, so if you don’t need them anymore, let someone else read it,” said Stephanie Croft, Sooke Region Literacy Outreach coordinator, adding particularly hot items are children’s books and fiction. Items can be dropped off at local bookstores as well as the book bin at the SEAPARC.

September is also a special month for Well Read Books, as the store will be re-opening with new hands on board and new books to check out.

For more information on the Sooke Region Literacy Project, please contact Stephanie Croft at sookeliteracy@gmail.com. For more information on Well Read Books-The Next Chapter, please contact Shannon Babbage at shannonbabbage@gmail.com.

news@sookenewsmirror.com