Reading experts in your community include elementary-school teachers, especially from kindergarten to Grade 4, children's librarians at your public library, and owners and staff of book stores. These people know a lot about books and reading. Tell them what you're doing and why. They will usually be delighted and pleased to help because you're helping them do their job.
Groups like Frontier College can help, too. Read on to find out how.
A reading circle is only the beginning. You can do more.
Who are the people in your community your children know and look up to? Find out, and invite them to visit your reading circle to share a story with the children. Your celebrity does not have to be an actual "celebrity." Of course, if Wayne Gretzky can drop by, invite him. But local heroes will do just fine ... and the children already know most of them. It could be a local radio or TV host, a writer from your newspaper, the school principal, a firefighter, police officer, crossing guard, parent, elder ... the list is almost endless.
Or, you could invite visitors from outside your community (such as athletes or politicians) to visit and to tell your children a story from their own community. This is a wonderful way to welcome a stranger. Over time, perhaps, this could become a custom in every Canadian community, province and territory. Travellers would be sure to pack a storybook to read aloud with new friends when visiting a different part of our country!