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Staff members and volunteers strive to fulfill the mission of New Haven Reads by spreading the joy and power of reading every single day. The New Haven Reads Summer Lecture Series, which began last summer and continued this year, presents an opportunity for staff, volunteers, and attendees to consider this mission in a broader context of literacy access and equity. 

In our first lecture, “Three Ways of Looking at the Free Library,” New York City based architects David Leven and Stella Betts discussed the history and function of the free library: its role as a civic building and its impact on the community, how it is environmentally situated and architecturally structured, as well as the books and various programs and gatherings that are held within it. The two discussed the evolution of libraries from sites utilized primarily by the elite for collegiate purposes to multifaceted resources for entire communities, a shift that Betts referred to as a “radical transformation.”

This summer’s second lecture featured Dr. Julie Washington, a Professor in the School of Education at the University of California – Irvine who studies the intersection of literacy, language variation, and poverty. Her presentation, “Using Culturally Relevant Reading Materials to Promote Interest in Reading Among Underserved Students,” focused mainly on how educators and tutors can help bridge the gap in reading achievement among African American, Hispanic, and Native American students by using texts that resonate with their own experiences and identities. Washington briefly explains the idea of “Mirrors and Windows”: the incorporation of culturally relevant reading materials that students can identify with, but also allows them to “transport themselves into different worlds.”

Washington emphasizes the importance of getting to know your students, demonstrating respect for differences, and using diverse teaching resources, while also noting a scarcity of diversity in existing children’s literary characters. She strongly recommends “Maya’s Book Nook” as a resource to search for culturally relevant reading materials. 

We at New Haven Reads hope that the 2021 Lecture Series serves as an opportunity for all of us to learn more about the accessibility of free libraries, books, and other related programs, as well as the importance of incorporating culturally relevant reading

Name: Sasha Northrup
Hometown: New Haven, CT
College & Major: Yale University, Archaeology/Anthropology
Tutoring Site: Science Park (SPark)
Clubs: Leader of Book Club, helper for Math II and Chess Club
Favorite Childhood Book(s): The Magic Tree House Series

I have been volunteering at New Haven Reads for almost four years. What started out as a community service requirement, continued as I came back every school year and every summer because I was – and still am – enamored with the warmth of NHR’s educational community. Here I am, a summer intern at SPark and I am so happy and utterly thrilled!! I cannot think of a better way to spend my summer. Truly, thank you times a million to everyone at NHR and First Niagara Foundation in partnership with KeyBank for giving me this wonderful opportunity to grow as a person.

It has been a mere two weeks into the NHR summer session, but I have already learned a myriad of little lessons – the most important being, children know more than you think. Case in point: the book club at NHR SPark is reading Verify by Joelle Charbonneau, which deals with heavy topics that I am not used to teaching to younger kids. But the club is far more mature than I expected and hearing their opinions about Verify is enlightening. Tutoring kids in literacy skills is different than having honest discussions, so getting to hear their interpretations about Verify has given me a new perspective on how the students at NHR experience the books we make them read. The SPark Summer 2021 Book Club is clear evidence that New Haven Reads works! Aside from all of that, I have learned that each time your kid looks up at you from their workbook, inquiring about the time, simply smiling can make them smile, too. Monitoring the other tutors and their kids is guaranteed to make anyone’s day. Pick-up time, with family and friends waiting to hear all about the previous hour, is also guaranteed to make anyone’s day. Voice acting while reading aloud a book together can make any kid come out of their shell. Uno and Connect 4 are practically Olympic Sports – and, finally, Choice Time is highly anticipated.

The professional and life experiences I am receiving at NHR are invaluable. This summer at NHR I am learning more about my place in the world as a young adult. Because of my time at NHR, I understand the joy of learning, and I will never stop being grateful!

New Haven Reads joined The Amistad Committee and Connecticut 29th Colored Regiment C.V. Infantry who hosted the fourth annual Juneteenth Festival on Ashum Street. The festival hosted dancers, singers and vendors along with community organizations. Our Science Park Director Audra distributed diverse books to families while also informing them all about New Haven Reads programs. 

To read more about the Juneteenth Festivals throughout New Haven click here