For Immediate Release
2007OTP0130-001155
Oct. 11, 2007
VICTORIA – Over 44,000 kindergarten students in British Columbia will each receive a complimentary copy of the award-winning children’s book Stanley’s Party, Education Minister Shirley Bond announced today.
“Offering the gift of reading is a wonderful way to support our earliest K-12 learners,” said Bond. “Our goal is to ensure all students have every opportunity for success in the classroom and in life.”
In Stanley’s Party, Vancouver author Linda Bailey and Ontario illustrator Bill Slavin tell the story of a dog named Stanley and his adventures in his family’s home. Meanwhile francophone kindergarten students will receive the book Moka by Gilles Tibo and Bruno Saint-Aubin. Moka is a story about a cat who dreams of flying like a swallow, but who eventually discovers the benefits of being his true self.
In June, Premier Campbell presented the first-ever Time to Read book award for early literacy to Bailey and Slavin, for their work on Stanley’s Party. For the fourth year in a row, every kindergarten student in B.C. will receive a book, to help them to develop key literacy and language skills.
“We want our children to begin developing strong literacy skills from an early age because we know that will help to open doors of opportunity when they are older,” said Bond. “It is our hope that by reading books like Stanley’s Party and Moka at home with their parents or caregiver, children will start to develop a love of reading.”
Time to Read: The British Columbia Achievement Foundation Award for Early Literacy will be presented annually for four years. This year’s award was open to all themes. For the 2008 award, preference will be given to a book on B.C. culture and history to celebrate 150 years since the province’s founding as a crown colony, and for 2009, to a book that celebrates the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
The award is provided by the B.C. Achievement Foundation, an independent foundation endowed by the Province to celebrate excellence in community service, arts and the humanities.
“The Time to Read award celebrates reading, writing, and the magic of storytelling,” said Keith Mitchell, chair of the BC Achievement Foundation. “We are very proud to contribute to early literacy in the province through this unique award program.”
Providing books for kindergarten students is part of ReadNow BC, a literacy action plan to help the Province reach its goal of being the best-educated, most literate jurisdiction on the continent. Since 2001, government has invested more than $125 million in new literacy funding, including $5 million for up to 80 StrongStart BC early learning centres and $9.5 million for the kindergarten readiness program Ready, Set, Learn.
For more information on ReadNow BC, please visit www.readnowbc.ca online.
