R.E.A.D. in the News
R.E.A.D. has received worldwide media attention. The R.E.A.D. program has been featured in national newspapers and magazines - in the Wall Street Journal, Time, Parenting, and Family Circle - on national television - from Animal Planet to the Westminster Dog Show - and in books and journals, such as the Association for Childhood Education International.
This page highlights just a few of the articles and videos, primarily from Minnesota.
A Reader's Best Friend
November 23, 2009
Lounging on a lime green blanket at Minnewashta Elementary, 5-year-old Golden Retriever Willow could be one of the best reading buddies a child could have. She listens intently, doesn't interrupt and doesn't judge when a child struggles with a difficult word. Read the entire article...
Kids Paws To Read With Dogs For Literacy
November 13, 2009
The program, Paws To Read, is helping children's literacy rates. Currently there is a partnership with the Hennepin County Library system in which kids sit down with a dog and read it a book. Read the article and watch the video...
Celebrate Reading With A Four- Legged Friend
November 11, 2009
Nov. 14th is National R.E.A.D. day and a unique program is celebrating it's 10th anniversary. Nancy Brooks, a R.E.A.D. volunteer and her dog, Sassy, stopped by KARE 11 News @ 4 to talk about the 14 reading events planned for around the Twin Cities. Read the article and watch the video...
Books & Animals Go Together for National R.E.A.D. Day
November 10, 200
Has
your child ever read a book to a dog or cat? They will have the chance
on November 14th, when area libraries will be celebrating the tenth
anniversary of the R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs)
program. Read the entire article..
R.E.A.D. Featured on Channel 12, Serving the NorthWest Cities
Featuring Judy & Merlin and Mary & Willow, November 10, 2009
Click on the archives for November 10, fast forward to the last minute of the show Watch the video...
R.E.A.D. on The Pet Playground Radio Show
Featuring Jennifer & Willow and students from Excelsior, November 8, 2009
LIsten to the show archive...
Learning to read? Try talking to a dog
R.E.A.D. featured on CNN, October 2009
Meet Bailey. She's a registered therapy dog, but you won't find her in hospitals or nursing homes. Instead, Bailey makes weekly visits to libraries and schools. She sits quietly or snuggles up to kids as they read her a book. Read the article and watch the video...
Curling Up with a Good Book
Featuring Sherry & Jack from Hutchinson, October 2009
Sherry Lund, children's librarian athe Hutchinson Public Library, and Sherry Eddy, an area dog trainer, are working to establish a local presence for Reading Education Assistance Dogs. Read the entire article...
Paws to Read
Featuring Stephanie & Cassanova in Brooklyn Center, October 2009
Children read aloud to certified volunteers and trained therapy animals at the sessions to improve children’Äôs reading confidence and literacy skills.
Exploring the Health Benefits of Pets
New York Times, October 2009
While this isn't an article specific to reading with animals, it does help explain the benefits of reading with animals. Read the entire article...
Dog Days
Featuring Jennifer & Willow from Eden Prairie, September 2009
Hopkins Library Paws to Read event designed to introduce children to both books and canines. Read the entire article...
R.E.A.D. on The Pet Playground Radio Show
Featuring Nancy & Sassy, August 2, 2009
Listen to the show archive...
Doggone Good Reading Lessons
Featuring Cindy & Yeager from Plymouth, May 2009
Max reads a story about a puppy named Pickles to a canine reading coach named Yeager in his Sunset Hill Elementary first grade classroom. His mom says it's a perfect partnership. Read the article and watch the video...
R.E.A.D. Feels the Love from Marley & Me
Featuring Nancy & Sassy from Minneapolis, March 2009
From best seller to box office hit, the four-legged family flick "Marley and
Me" is heading to DVD next Tuesday. And this weekend Brookdale Library is also
showing some puppy love. Read the article and watch the video...
Hennepin
County Libraries Go To The Dogs
Featuring Stephanie & Cassanova from Minneapolis, November 2008
"At first the idea seemed off the wall," Anne Pederson, youth
services librarian at East Lake Library, said "but the ideas do go
together." The dogs help lower stress among the youth and provide a
nonjudgmental audience for the kids. Winn, Nova's handler, said she
noticed a drastic improvement in the reading skills of a boy who
participated in the program at Brookdale Library.
Read the
entire article...
R.E.A.D. To Me!
Featuring Anne & Coby from Minneapolis, May 2008
Children who don't learn to read are almost surely sentenced to life in poverty. Poverty often leads to crime. Troubled, I wondered what I could do to help. Serendipitously, I had my own dog enrolled in a Therapy Dog class where we were told about the R.E.A.D. Program. What great luck. Not only could I help fight illiteracy, the solution involved dogs. Read the entire article...
Gone to the
Dogs: Kids Connect with Canine Classmates
Published in the June 2007 issue of Edutopia magazine.
"I started going to a library on Saturdays where the kids
would come to read to dogs," Bishop says. "As soon as I brought my dogs
around, they just lit up, and, of course, the kids did, too. All these
parents began coming up to me and telling me how their kids had been
such hesitant readers until they started in the dog program, and how
enthusiastic they became.
Read the
entire article...
Therapy Dogs Help Kids Read
Video & story featuring Pat & Chopper from Elk River, February 2007
On Friday, pups Cooper and Chopper came to class and they were
ready to flop down and listen to some stories. Olivia Swanson, 6, had
been practicing for a whole week. Parents can't believe the
difference, how fast their children are learning to read with the dogs
around.
Read the entire article and watch the video...
