NEW YORK, Sept. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Reading is essential to the development of a child's personality, imagination, and communication skills. Children must learn to love and enjoy reading to reap its benefits. Children of the Arab world and Jordan in particular are not readers.  A survey conducted by Arabia News estimated that the average number of pages read in the Middle East is only half a page a year, while in the United States it is 11 books a year.

We Love Reading has developed an innovative model to solve this problem in a sustainable and cost efficient way.  Our model is comprised of training individuals from the neighborhoods in which they are located to read aloud to children 4 to 10 years old, utilizing age-appropriate reading material. Significant numbers of adults trained in proper read aloud techniques will lead to the creation of informal and sustainable networks of model readers that will inspire children and the communities in which they are raised to read and learn more.

We Love Reading aims to positively impact children throughout Jordan and the Arab world by creating a generation of children that love, enjoy, and respect books through the establishment of a library in every neighborhood in the Arab world.

We Love Reading has trained 380 storytellers, all of them women. As a result, 80 libraries have been established in various areas of Jordan reaching out to more than 4,000 children, 60% of whom are girls. These children have learned to read for pleasure. Our model has spread to Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Tunis. We Love Reading has received the Arab World Social innovator Award from Synergos and has partnered with Mercy Corps, Ruwwad (ARAMEX) and Injaz-Jordan.

We Love Reading commits through the Clinton Global Initiative to establish over the next five years 100 libraries throughout Jordan to actively encourage each community to share in the experience of reading.  These libraries will help foster a lifelong enthusiasm for reading and acquiring new knowledge among children in a sustainable and cost efficient way.  It costs less than 50 dollars to make a child read forever.

For more information, visit www.welovereading.org.

About the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 125 current and former heads of state, 15 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations, major philanthropists, directors of the most effective nongovernmental organizations, and prominent members of the media. These CGI members have made more than 1,700 commitments valued at $57 billion, which have already improved the lives of 220 million people in more than 170 countries. The CGI community also includes CGI University (CGI U), a forum to engage college students in global citizenship, MyCommitment.org, an online portal where anybody can make a Commitment to Action, and CGI Lead, which engages a select group of young leaders from business, government, and civil society. For more information, visit www.clintonglobalinitiative.org.

SOURCE We Love Reading

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http://www.welovereading.org/