May is *Get Caught Reading* Month

Each year during May, we celebrate *Get Caught Reading* (GCR) !  It's a national campaign to promote the joys of recreational reading - reading for the fun of it - for readers of all ages.  Launched in 1999 and supported by the Association of American Publishers (AAP), GCR encourages you to join the thousands of celebrities, booksellers, teachers and librarians who continue to embrace this campaign across the country.

The first Get Caught Reading campaign was held in 1999. The campaign is supported by the AAP, the national trade association of the book publishing industry in the United States.  "Get Caught Reading" is the brainchild of former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, president and Chief Executive Officer of AAP, the industry association representing book publishers. She saw the opportunity to spread the word about the joys of reading through an industry-supported literacy campaign.

Research indicates that early language experience actually stimulates a child's brain to grow and that reading to children gives them a huge advantage when they start school.  We encourage people of all ages to enjoy books and magazines and to share that pleasure with the young children in their lives.

Encouraging and nurturing a love of reading in children can come in many forms - we read to them from the time they are babies, and we help them see themselves as readers, we even surround them with wonderful literature like that by Dr. Seuss.

If books are part of loving parent-child interactions from an early age, children will associate the presence of books with all of the positive feelings of being held and loved. Undoubtedly, these associations are ingrained in a profound way in a child's developing brain. Picture books also provide an ideal context for parent-child interactions that are loving and stimulating

As your pediatrician already knows, growing up healthy means much more than the absence of disease. It means growing up with love and attention, and acquiring both spoken and written language. It's exciting to offer a child a beautiful book and watch the book cast its spell.

Growing up without books is growing up deprived - with a deprivation that puts one at risk for failure...If we want our children to grow up reading, we have to do everything possible, and we have to do it as early as possible.

Our goal as parents and teachers should be to hook our children on great books that won't let the kids leave home without them. Teach them that a book is a friend that you can take with you everywhere you go. We celebrate and share the idea that reading can be done anytime and anywhere.

Look Who's Been Caught Reading!  We are honored to have the support of well known figures including First Lady Laura Bush, Drew Carey, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Patty Duke, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Graham, Derek Jeter, Vernon Jordan, Jake Lloyd, Rosie O'Donnell, Dolly Parton, Jane Seymour, Sammy Sosa, Erik Weihenmayer, and Robin Williams, who have all been "caught reading" their favorite books and magazines.  Celebrities such as Alicia Keys, New York Yankee Johnny Damon, Gloria Estefan, L.L. Cool J,  NBA Star Greg Oden, Queen Latifah, and Olympic Gymnast Shawn Johnson have all been caught reading!

Hundreds of teachers and librarians across the U.S. embrace this campaign. They are setting up "Get Caught Reading" corners, allocating a special time each day for leisure reading, and taking photos of students "caught reading" for their classroom bulletin boards.

Now it’s your turn to Get Caught Reading something