The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
6-year-old wants to open world of reading
Girl is co-founder of Empowered Literacy Project.
There are not many 6-yearolds who want to make sure their classmates understand the importance of reading.
However, there is one. Meet Parkside Elementary first-grader and co-founder of the Empowered Literacy Project Selah Thompson.
Selah came home upset after the first day in kindergarten last year at the Grant Park school.
“A lot of her friends didn’t know how to read, didn’t know their sight words or the alphabet,” said her dad Khalil Thompson. “She was saddened and wanted to do something to help,” so Selah challenged her par- ents to help her find a way to help.
After doing research, asking tough questions and trying to find where the prob- lem originated, Selah and her parents launched the Empowered Readers Liter- acy Project.
Their goal is “to tackle illiteracy by helping families build strong reading rituals and by getting kids excited about reading.”
The Atlanta-based non- profit will hold The March to 20Hundred Thousand Books: A Children’s March for Literacy on Jan. 19. The event starts at 9 a.m. in the Gold Lot at Georgia State Stadium, formerly Turner Field.
Their goal was to have 400 people participate. They have more than 700 registered.
Children can dress as any character from their favorite book for the half-mile walk along Georgia Avenue to the old Georgia-Hill Library, adja- cent to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.
At the end of the march, they will be planting three fully stocked little free librar- ies in front of the old Georgia-Hill Library, now the Georgia-Hill Neighborhood Center.
The little free libraries will be decorated by students at three neighborhood elementary schools (Parkside, Dun- bar and Barack and Michelle Obama Academy) around the theme of “Community Treasure.”
A portion of the books in the libraries that they plant will be written by kids for kids, with the hope of inspir- ing other children to let their voices be heard and reclaim their own stories.
Their goals are to raise awareness of illiteracy, collect 5,000 books and raise $30,000 to enable Empowered Readers to plant 72 little free libraries in 24 communities throughout Atlanta.
“We want to encourage families to build strong read- ing rituals early,” said Nicole Thompson, Selah’s mother and executive director of the organization. “By getting families to read early, you increase the likelihood of reading becoming habitual and kids becoming active readers.”
Khalil, who works for IBM and is the “creative guy” for the group, and Nicole, a civil rights attorney, have seen first hand how excited children get when they are able to read.
“We read to (Selah) when she was still in the womb and have been reading to her since the day she was born,” said Khalil.
The c o upl e a l s o have another daughter who is 2 years old and already loves books and reading.
“We need to reinforce reading rituals. We have seen firsthand that when kids have access to culturally rele- vant books to which they can relate, they get really excited about reading,” Nicole said.
Selah, who turns 7 on Jan. 8, said, “This is super important because every kid deserves to read.”