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ReadBoston Announces Sixth-Annual Best Read Aloud Book Award

May 10, 2010

Reading aloud to children boosts essential literacy skills, and just in time for summer reading, a group of Bostonians are making sure parents have the right tools. ReadBoston has announced its sixth annual Read Aloud Book Award, which spotlights an ideal read-aloud book for children ages four through eight. This year’s big winner is Sergio Saves the Game, by Edel Rodriguez (Little, Brown & Co). The award aims to highlight the importance of reading aloud to children, and attracts submissions from major publishers across the US and Canada.


ReadBoston Book Award Winners must demonstrate exemplary illustration, language and attention-holding powers. Finalists were: Big, Bigger, Biggest! by Nancy Coffelt, Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison & Slade Morrison and Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.


“I want to congratulate the winners of the 2010 Read Aloud Book Award and remind all adults to take time to read with the young children whenever they get a chance. It’s rewarding and a few minutes of your time pays big dividend in the future by ensuring the next generation becomes skilled readers,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

The complete list of panelists, who gathered in Mayor Menino’s office this week to make their decision, included:
Boston School Superintendent Carol Johnson, Boston’s First Lady Angela Menino, author/lawyer Raffi Yessayan, ReadBoston founder and Harvard School of Education Professor Rick Weissbourd, School Committee members Mary Tamer and Marchelle Raynor, Harold Sparrow from the YMCA, ReadBoston volunteer Eileen Newman, Terry Guiney from Hotel Commonwealth, O’Neill & Associates’ Nicole Russo, Bob Sweeney from the Boston Bruins, Boston Globe columnist Beth Teitell, State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, Charlayne Murrell-Smith from the Boston Children’s Museum, Chris Wade from Boston Private Bank, Ike Williams of the Kneerim & Williams Agency, City Councilor Rob Consalvo, WBZ-TV’s Lisa Hughes, Susan Ehrlich from Shawmut Design & Construction, Stacey Lucchino, Mary Rafferty, Tom Petersen from TIME Magazine, BPL President Amy Ryan, Curley School Principal Mirna Vega-Wilson and Alicia Verity from Bank of America.
ReadBoston was founded by Mayor Thomas Menino and other city leaders in 1995 as a non-profit children’s literacy organization with an ambitious goal: to ensure that every child in Boston can read at grade level by the end of the third grade. Third grade has been chosen as the standard because until the third grade a child learns to read; after the third grade a child reads to learn. Children who can read at grade level by the time they enter the fourth grade are likely to continue to experience educational success, graduate from high school, secure post-secondary education, and enjoy higher levels of professional challenge and financial security.

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