Take Time to Read Book Cover Walking Tour Begins March 1

ISSAQUAH, Wash., Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the King County Library System:

What: In mid-February, gigantic book cover posters will begin appearing in eight King County communities, turning local buildings into an outdoor art gallery with a twist. Each poster is accompanied by an audio tour guide available by cell phone or MP3 download.

Details are available online at kcls.org/taketimetoread.

Who: Placed by the King County Library System (KCLS) in collaboration with community organizations and local businesses, more than 100 literary artworks will mark the first-ever book cover walking tour.

The Take Time to Read program is sponsored by the King County Library System Foundation.

Community Partners include

• City of Bellevue
• Burien Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services
• Discover Burien
• City of Issaquah      
• City of Kent
• City of Kirkland
• City of Mercer Island
• City of Renton
• Greater Issaquah Chamber of Commerce
• Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce
• Kent Downtown Partnership
• King County
• Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce
• Sound Transit

Where: KCLS Book Cover Walking Tour cities include Bellevue, Burien, Issaquah, Kent, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Renton, and Vashon.

An interactive map of book cover locations and audio access codes will be available at www.kcls.org/taketimetoread.

When: Installation begins in mid-February. Photo op inquiries to [email protected]

The tour launches March 1, and runs through May 30, 2011. Free guide books available.

Why: These outdoor community galleries of book art and audio narrative is an innovative way for the public to interact and engage with books and reading in a surprising, fun way.

Backgrounder:  Why is it important to Take Time to Read?

No matter how you measure it, Americans are overbooked and under-read. We work more hours than a medieval peasant did, and read less than we did ten years ago. The results are far from trivial. Just as our frenzied work schedules affect our health, our communities, and our sense of well-being, reduced reading time is taking its toll.

The National Endowment for the Arts studied American reading habits, producing an alarming report in 2007: To Read or Not To Read: A question of National Consequence. Among their more disturbing findings: "On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading."

Like all skills, reading improves with practice. The less we read, the worse we get at it. Our vocabularies are dropping, along with reading comprehension, critical thinking and analytical skills.

Young adult author Paul Kropp writes in The Reading Solution: "There are almost half a million words in our English Language - the largest language on earth, incidentally - but a third of all our writing is made up of only twenty-two words."

In Illiterate America, educator Jonathan Kozol points out: "50 percent of American adults are unable to read an eighth grade level book." It's worse than it sounds. Nationwide, low literacy skills affect employability, productivity, health, lifelong earning capacity, and economic stability.

In today's hectic culture, it's hard to find time to read for pleasure. The KCLS Take Time to Read campaign is a three-year project featuring innovative ways to promote reading as a community value.

Learn more about Take Time to Read at King County Library System's www.kcls.org/taketimetoread.

Additional Resources:

National Endowment for the Arts announces New Reading Study http://www.nea.gov/news/news07/TRNR.html

Reading Education and Literacy Statistics, The Literacy Company, http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp

Grim Illiteracy Statistics Indicate Americans Have a Reading Problem, Sep 20, 2007 http://education-portal.com/articles/Grim_Illiteracy_Statistics_Indicate_Americans_Have_a_Reading_Problem.html

Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey Summary, 2009 http://www.bls.gov/news.release/atus.nr0.htm

SOURCE King County Library System