National Library Week, April 12 to 18, celebrates the program Unlimited Possiblities @ Your Library


She advises, “Designate a safe corner where a child can escape if feeling overwhelmed. After entering the room, han- dlers should sit on the floor with the dog lying beside them. A standing dog can cause too much excitement. It’s important to trust that your therapy dog will know how to approach a child that’s afraid, has tremors or can’t sit up or sit still.” “An animal’s heartbeat seems to call to kids,” observes


Rachael Barrera, a children’s librarian at Brook Hollow Public Library, in San Antonio, Texas. “Dogs have come here once a week for more than a year. Now older kids that are comfortable with the reading program are showing younger ones how to choose a book.” At California’s Benicia Public Library, kids read to Honey,


a friendly brown dog, on Wednesday afternoons. Sheila Jordan, managing editor and owner of Booklandia, founded in Bend, Oregon, says her 8-year-old, Chase, found it difficult to concen- trate because of ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). “The Tales and Tails program was a big help. All summer, we went every week and chose books he said the dog would love.” Jordan’s reward was a more focused child; Chase’s reward was a dog of his own last fall. North Carolina’s Charlotte Mecklenburg Library offers 14,000 free programs a year throughout its 20 locations, includ- ing Paws to Read. Librarian Cathy Cartledge, reading program coordinator for the Morrison Regional branch, shares this story


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from Jaylee’s mom, Jill. “Jaylee was tutored in reading for a year. After she also began reading to Zoey, a great Pyrenees, or Hunter, a golden retriever, I saw improvement in fluency, confidence and enjoy- ment. It worked miracles compared with the hours and money spent for tutoring,” her mom remarks. The Mount Prospect Library, near Chicago, has an age re- quirement for its Tales to Tails program. “Rachael, 8, will hardly put a book down now,” says her mom, Nicole Sasanuma, a senior associate with Business Communications & Advocacy, in Northbrook, Illinois. “Her sister, Emi, 6, is anxious for her next birthday so she ‘can read to doggies,’ too.” Reading programs aren’t limited to libraries or schools. Jean Maclean, of Lompoc, California, trains her two dogs in agility and rally skills. For a change of pace, they visit the Chumash Learning Center, in Santa Ynez, once a month. The Chumash people value education from both its elders and teachers outside the tribe. Maclean relates that Donny, age 11, was afraid of dogs until he met hers, after which his teachers saw his reading improve three levels in one semester. Animals help kids relax and become teachers to the dogs.


Researchers at the University of California, Davis have found that reading skills for kids that read to dogs during a 10-week literacy program improved by 12 percent. Children in the same program that didn’t do the same showed no improvement. Dogs and other pets prove that reading out loud doesn’t have to be scary. All it takes is a good book and a good listener.


Connect with freelance writer Sandra Murphy at StLouisFree- lanceWriter@mindspring.com.


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