Free bilingual literacy event for children ages 4 to 9 and their families with interactive read-alouds, free books and eye health education for caregivers.
See to Read comes to the Whitman Library on Tuesday, October 20, at 5 PM. It's a free family event built for children ages 4 to 9 and their families, and you don't need to register to attend.
The session centers on interactive read-alouds, and every child walks away with a free book. While the kids are reading, there's a separate piece for the adults: eye health education for caregivers on how undetected vision problems can affect early reading. It's a bilingual program in English and Spanish, with an ASL interpreter on site, so it works whether you're coming in with one language or both.
There's a good bit of local support behind it. The program is funded by the Read by 4th Neighbourhood Literacy Fund and co-sponsored by Wills Eye Hospital, the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, and LAMP. That mix explains why it pairs storytime with vision health—it's as much about the books as it is about the eyes that read them.
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If you haven't been to the Whitman branch in a while, it's at 200 Snyder Avenue, at the corner of 2nd and Snyder in South Philly. The meeting room there hangs scenes of the neighborhood painted by local watercolorist Howard N. Watson, and the branch itself takes its name from the nearby Walt Whitman Bridge. The area was once marshland and is the birthplace of the Philadelphia Mummers, whose traditions go back to the 19th century. The event is free, it starts at 5 PM, and no registration is needed.
