World Read Aloud Day Fosters Connections Through Shared Stories

Books have the magical ability to take us on a journey beyond the pages into different worlds and to celebrate World Read Aloud Day, Middle and Upper School students grabbed their picture books and shared the joys of reading.

Established in 2010 by the non-profit organization LitWorld, World Read Aloud Day is a global movement celebrating the power of reading aloud to create community and advocate for literacy as a fundamental human right. The World Read Aloud Day initiative at Hamden Hall was organized by the efforts of English and history teacher Olivia Hamaoui, who has both volunteered with LitWorld and participated in the program for the last nine years as a teacher.

“It’s one of my favorite days of the year as I want students to recognize the power of literacy and to be reminded of how books can connect people across age groups and generations,” said Mrs. Hamaoui. “It’s also really rewarding for students to see themselves as mentor readers when they are working with younger students.”

Middle and Upper School students were excitedly welcomed into the PreSchool/PreKindergarten through Grade 2 classrooms as special guest readers, along with Mrs. Hamaoui and English teachers Allison Ehrenreich, Zach White, and Jennifer Manley. The Middle and Upper Schoolers were split into smaller groups within each class for a more personal and fun reading session. The book selection included Violet the Pilot authored by Steve Breen, Stellaluna authored by Janell Cannon, The Cool Bean authored by Jory John, The Pet Dragon authored by Christoph Niemann, and many more.

Mrs. Hamaoui noted that the book selections read by the students were handpicked with the help of Lower School librarian Pam Wilonski. Mrs. Wilonski curated a collection of about 45 children’s picture books for the students to look through and choose. Each group read two books during their time together and even enjoyed some conversation before ending the session.

With the enjoyment and active participation of World Read Aloud Day, Mrs. Hamaoui also noted that many of the students now partake in a reading mentorship program where they read to Lower School students every other week.