Release Date: 03.18.10 | Location: Dallas | Organization: DallasKidsRead!
DallasKidsRead!
Celebrity book readings, storytelling, arts and crafts, free vision screenings, musical entertainment and more will be on tap at DallasKidsRead!, a free children's festival on Saturday, April 17, from 1 - 6 p.m. at NorthPark Center (Benefiting Rainbow Days, Inc., DallasKidsRead! is a celebration of the imagination designed to foster a love of literature and reading among North Texas children. Mrs. Laura Leppert, wife of Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, will serve as honorary chair.
Local and national award-winning authors and illustrators will be on hand for book readings, informal illustration workshops and autographs. The DallasKidsRead! Bookstore will sell books by guest authors and illustrators with a portion of the proceeds going to Rainbow Days, Inc. Favorite storybook characters will come alive for mingling, photographs and autographs.
Essilor Vision Foundation will be on site to provide free vision screenings to elementary schoolchildren.
All 25 branches of the Dallas Public Library plus the Central Library downtown will feature special literary programming and activities as part of the DallasKidsRead! event including visits by authors and illustrators (select locations), special story times, crafts and more.
DallasKidsRead! is supported by AT&T. Sponsors are Dallas County Schools; Gene & Jerry Jones Family Charities; Parkland Community Health Plan, Inc.; Radisson Dallas Central; Southwest Airlines, the Official Airline Sponsor of DallasKidsRead!; and Walmart. Partners are Big Thought, City of Dallas Office of the Mayor, Dallas Children's Theater, Dallas Independent School District, Dallas Public Library, Essilor Vision Foundation, First Book, Friendship-West Baptist Church, Kids in Distressed Situations, NorthPark Center, and Protecting Our Children Outreach Ministry - A Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
DallasKidsRead! is free and open to the public. For easy access, ride DART. Activities will take place in NorthPark Center's NorthCourt, located between Nordstrom and Macy's.
For more information, please call 214-871-3028 or go to www.DallasKidsRead.org.
Rainbow Days, Inc. provides children living in high-risk situations with the skills and support they need to overcome adversity and stay drug free. Located in Dallas since 1982, the nationally recognized nonprofit has served over 107,000 children in the Dallas area and trained more than 30,000 professionals across America to create support groups or prevention programs in their own communities. Currently, Rainbow Days serves more than 9,500 children and 200 parents at 82 community-based sites including elementary schools, homeless shelters, transitional living centers, domestic violence centers, after-school programs and recreation centers in the four-county Dallas area.
For more information, please go to www.rdikids.org or call 214-887-0726.
