Earlier this year, we kicked off another amazing World Read Aloud Day celebration on February 7th, 2024! Millions of readers, writers, and listeners worldwide came together to share the joy and power of reading and storytelling.
Thanks to the support of our global partners and sponsors and the tremendous enthusiasm of every single participant, this year's World Read Aloud Day was simply incredible, reaching over 700 million people from Australia to Zambia and everywhere in between.
Celebrating Collaboration: WRAD Sponsors
We had the pleasure of organizing another year of live author events with the help of our fantastic partners at Storyvoice and Scholastic. With their help, we hosted 7 Live Author Events, watched across 15+ Countries, with over 235,000+ Attendees!
Storyvoice WRAD 2024 Impact Report
Our other wonderful sponsors, Penguin Random House, Outskirts Press, and Storyline Online, provided participants with WRAD-themed resources, such as book lists and celebrity read-alouds, for use in their classrooms and homes.
WRAD Around the World
It is always amazing to see World Read Aloud Day being celebrated all over the world, and we are lucky to partner with some incredible organizations to host on-the-ground WRAD events.
Here are a few of our program partner highlights:
Our partners at Museo Rayo in Colombia went above and beyond to celebrate World Read Aloud Day and the 10th anniversary of their Sala de Lectura Infantil El Rincón de Mateo. The day was filled with community read-aloud sessions that brought joy and excitement to everyone involved.
Our friends over at Ready for Reading in Rwanda really brought the energy for WRAD! They kicked things off by crafting some creative reading crowns and then dove into an inspiring group read-aloud session. Even the littlest readers were excited to join in on the fun!
Our partners at the Centre for Development in India hosted a community celebration with their 16 LitClubs. They created beautiful reading crowns, participated in storytelling activities, and enjoyed inspiring read-aloud sessions to celebrate the special day.
Our partners at Kenya Connect helped to organize numerous celebrations throughout various communities in Kenya. The events were a huge success, with attendees creating reading crowns, building stories, and reading aloud with their friends. The festivities even included a WRAD parade!
WRAD Goes Local: LitWorld Live Events in NYC
The LitWorld team partnered with local schools and the New York Public Library to host a series of unforgettable WRAD events across New York City.
The day kicked-off with a virtual visit from our friend and author Torrey Maldonado at PS 15. There was also team-led read-alouds at PS 398 and a dance party and crown crafting event at PS 28.
In the afternoon, the team had an epic LitFest celebration at Highbridge Library in the Bronx, including bilingual read-alouds, WRAD activity stations, and a photo booth.
Brooklyn Public Library also hosted multiple WRAD-themed storytimes, bringing the magic of reading aloud to families and communities across the borough.
Let's Get Digital: #WRAD Online
Our digital WRAD celebration was just as exciting as our in-person events! Hundreds of people have contributed to our virtual bookshelf over the last few years, and this year, you all helped us to #TellEveryStory by sharing your favorites. Some of the most popular from this year include Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Matilda, and Dogman.
For our Build-a-Story Challenge, we received over 200 stories from talented kids worldwide! These imaginative and creative kids came up with all sorts of tales, from dancing monsters to surfing penguins, and so much more. Check out our WRAD Flip Mixtape to listen.
Every Day is World Read Aloud Day
LitWorld founded World Read Aloud Day® back in 2010 to celebrate the power of reading aloud. It is a yearly celebration that is all about building connections, sharing stories, and standing up for literacy as a fundamental right for everyone.
We are so grateful to everyone who helped make World Read Aloud Day an incredible success this year and every year.
And remember, while WRAD may take place once a year, the magic of reading aloud doesn't have to end there. It is always a good time to open a book, share a story, and read aloud!