{"id":3423,"date":"2020-04-01T00:00:43","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T04:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3423"},"modified":"2020-04-01T11:13:42","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T15:13:42","slug":"april-1-when-children-have-access-to-books-their-world-expands-mary-catherine-harrison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/04\/01\/april-1-when-children-have-access-to-books-their-world-expands-mary-catherine-harrison\/","title":{"rendered":"April 1, \u201cWhen children have access to books their world expands.\u201d Mary-Catherine Harrison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday April 1, 2020 \u2013\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen children have access to books their world expands.\u201d \u00a0Mary-Catherine Harrison<\/p>\n

During these weeks as the world\u2019s Pandemic grips our inner attention,\u00a0weeks marked by quarantine protocols and exploding infection rates, April has arrived in our living places. \u00a0Here in Detroit one of our educational traditions might\u00a0expand our imaginations. \u00a0The children in the photos woke my imagination and stirred gratitude for the years of work that Dr. Mary-Catherine Harrison, Chair of our English and Writing program has dedicated to encouraging children to take books home and to form a habit of reading. \u00a0 Today\u2019s post is dedicated to the thousands of children\u2019s books which transform the lives of little people in our neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

have a blest mid-week.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Preface, April 22 2015<\/u><\/strong>: \u00a0\u201cOur guest editor for today is associate professor of English and Director of RX for Reading Detroit Mary-Catherine Harrison. \u00a0She calls attention to the celebration tomorrow afternoon of a birth. \u00a0In the Gesu School playground, just across McNichols from UDM\u2019s campus, what looks like a large bird house or mailbox will be publicly welcomed into the neighborhood. \u00a0It carries books for young children rather than birds or letters. \u00a0This cooperation between UDM faculty and staff with children in Gesu School is as beautiful as the new book box. \u00a0Makes me proud that our Work Day list can be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have a good day.<\/p>\n

john st sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 \u00a0Mary-Catherine Harrison<\/strong><\/p>\n

April 2015 – – \u00a0RX for Reading works to expand access to children\u2019s books in Detroit and support families in reading with their children.\u00a0 Over the 2014-2015 school year, they have distributed 5,000 new and gently used books to kids and community partners in the city, and UDM students have read with children at Emmanuel Head Start, Peggy\u2019s Place Head Start, Bright Beginnings Childcare at COTS, and Gesu Elementary School. You can read more about their work at the RX for Reading website.\u00a0 This post,\u00a0\u201cWhat Happens When College Students and Preschoolers Read Together?,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0talks about the RX for Reading partnership between UDM undergraduates and the preschoolers at Emmanuel Head Start.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow (4\/23\/2015) at 3:00, University of Detroit Mercy will host a campus and community celebration to launch the new RX for Reading Detroit Little Free Library in the Gesu Community Green. \u00a0Supported by a UDM Mission Micro Grant, the Little Free Library was built by Emilie Wetherington, Director of UDM\u2019s Student Success Center, and her husband Terry Wetherington. \u00a0RX for Reading Detroit will keep the library stocked with books to be enjoyed by all children in the neighborhood. \u00a0Members of the UDM community are invited to the \u201cbookies and cookies\u201d themed party, along with the kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd\u00a0grades at Gesu Elementary School.\u00a0 Gesu Community Green is across the street from UDM at McNichols and Oak Street.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As a literary critic, I have spent much of my career considering what literature does in the world, how it affects readers\u2019 emotional states, our beliefs and behaviors, our commitments.<\/p>\n

Since starting RX for Reading, I have thought even more about what reading offers.\u00a0 Reading proficiently by the third grade is the single greatest predictor of high school graduation and a successful career.\u00a0 In Michigan, only 19% of low-income children are reaching this benchmark.\u00a0 Young people with low literacy skills are at greater risk of incarceration and poor health outcomes.\u00a0 Their children and their children\u2019s children are more likely to live in poverty.\u00a0 Reading is opportunity.\u00a0 Reading is the foundation of equality.<\/p>\n

When children have access to books their world expands.\u00a0 Literature functions as both a window and a mirror.\u00a0 It allows us to see and understand lives different than our own; it reflects our own life in a way that makes us understand our experience more fully.<\/p>\n

Literature takes us places. When we lose ourselves in a book, we are transported to those scenes; we experience events as if we were present for them and we imagine ourselves in the place of characters in that world.\u00a0 Scholars call this phenomenon narrative transportation.\u00a0 Emily Dickinson understood it well.<\/p>\n

There is no Frigate like a Book (1286)\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Emily Dickinson<\/p>\n

There is no Frigate like a Book
\nTo take us Lands away
\nNor any Coursers like a Page
\nOf prancing Poetry \u2013
\nThis Traverse may the poorest take
\nWithout oppress of Toll \u2013
\nHow frugal is the Chariot
\nThat bears the Human Soul \u2013<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Emily Dickenson 1830 \u2013 1886<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RX for Reading Detroit\u2014Raising Readers, One Book at a Time<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more about our work:
\nhttp:\/\/rxreading.org<\/a>\/<\/p>\n

Follow us on Facebook or Twitter:
\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/rxreading
\n<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/rxreading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday April 1, 2020 \u2013\u00a0 \u201cWhen children have access to books their world expands.\u201d \u00a0Mary-Catherine Harrison During these weeks as the world\u2019s Pandemic grips our inner attention,\u00a0weeks marked by quarantine protocols and exploding infection rates, April has arrived in our … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3424,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions\/3424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}