WILMINGTON — Tracey Quillen Carney and Gov. John Carney announced the launch of a statewide reading tour Wednesday, which coincides with the release of the first lady’s original children’s book, “Books for Blue”.
Ms. Carney’s book encourages youth to engage and explore, step outside of their comfort zone and embrace reading, given the benefits it has on children in the First State and beyond.
“A lot of our work has been about moving the needle where it desperately needs to move; culture shift, level stuff in areas like youth mental health, early education, eradicating hunger and building communities of hope with wraparound services for families,” she said at Wednesday’s event at the Wilmington Public Library.
“We’ve known all along that we would not get to the finish line with a lot of those jobs, and we’ve made no apologies for, in fact, we’ve taken pride in engaging in generational work. With ‘Books for Blue,’ there actually is a finish line of sorts, and it is today.”
The reading tour began Wednesday afternoon with a bilingual story time at the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington and continued Thursday with story time at the Selbyville Public Library at 10 a.m. and Harrington Public Library at noon.
Delaware’s first lady said the events were intentionally billed as a reading tour instead of a book launch because “we don’t want it to be just about one book.”
“We want it to be about early language experiences toward healthy brain development and school readiness, because we know if we want to meet the third-grade-reading benchmark, we need to start pre-reading skills long before anybody shows up at kindergarten,” she said.
“We want today and all of our reading tour stops this summer and fall to be about the library habit, the value and joy of lifelong learning and about how literacy activities can strengthen family and community connections.”
Ms. Carney’s “Books for Blue” is published by Syncretic Press and reviewed by Dr. Meghan Walls, a Delaware child psychologist.
The Selbyville and Harrington public libraries received funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. In 2022, Gov. Carney provided $40 million to state libraries to address the growing needs of these facilities in all three counties.
In all, nine libraries received funding, which helped build the new facilities in Selbyville and Harrington.
“Children learn to read by grade three and then read to learn for the rest of their lives. Literacy is the foundation that each of our students and neighbors need for success. As we approach the start of the school year, let’s share the messages found in the pages of ‘Books for Blue,’” Gov. Carney said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
“Visit your local library. Be curious. And be eager to lean on others for advice. I want to congratulate Tracey, (state librarian) Annie (Norman), and the other advocates involved in this project. Thank you to the Casey Family Programs for their support of Delaware families through this project and throughout our administration.”
Delaware families will be able to borrow “Books for Blue” from 33 libraries across the state in the coming weeks, and copies are being distributed to district schools and early learning centers for the start of the 2024-2025 school year.
There will be a book walk/mobile display offered to state agencies and partners for events. The inaugural display will be at the opening of the Maurice Pritchett Sr. Academy on Aug 23. The facility is the first new school in Wilmington in decades.
Local News
