Free Virtual Visits on World Read Aloud Day 2023

Mark your calendars for February 1, 2023 — it’s World Read Aloud Day! 

LitWorld started World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) in 2010 to honor the power and joy of reading. To celebrate, authors and illustrators come together each year to offer virtual classroom visits around the world.

Several Soaring ‘20s authors and illustrators still have spots available.

Most virtual visits go something like this:

• 1-2 minutes: Creator introduces themself and talks a little about their books.

• 3-5 minutes: Creator reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel

• 5-10  minutes: Creator answers a few questions from students about reading/writing.

• 1-2 minutes: Creator book-talks a couple books they love (but didn’t write/illustrate!) as recommendations for the kids.

Before you sign up, most authors request you have the following available.

• School name, grade level/teacher name, and approximate number of students

• Platform (ex. Zoom, Google Meet, Skype)

• Cell phone number for day-of-event emergencies

NOTE: Please pay attention to each creator’s time zone when scheduling. We are located across the US!

To check availability and/or schedule with an individual creator, click on their name below.

Qing Zhuang

Qing Zhuang

Books: Rainbow Shopping and How Long Is Forever?

10 am-12:20 pm ET

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Candy Wellins

Candy Wellins

Books: Saturdays Are for Stella, The Stars Beckoned: Edward White’s Amazing Walk in Space, and Mabel’s Topsy-Turvy Homes

9 am-3:30pm CT

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Susan Kusel

Susan Kusel

Book: The Passover Guest

9 am-4 pm ET 

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Isabella Kung

Isabella Kung

Books: No Fuzzball! and No Snowball!

9:30 am-1:30 pm PT

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M.O. Yuksel

M.O. Yuksel

Books: In My Mosque, One Wish: Fatima Al-Fihri and the World’s Oldest University

8 am-2:20 pm ET

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Kjersten Hayes

Kjersten Hayes

Book: The Elephants’ Guide to Hide-and-Seek

7:30 am-12:30 pm PT

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Joana Pastro

Joana Pastro

Books: Lillybelle, a Damsel Not in Distress and Bisa’s Carnaval 

9 am-10:50 am and 12:30 pm-1:50 pm ET

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Lindsay H. Metcalf

Lindsay H. Metcalf

Books: No World Too Big: Young People Fighting Global Climate Change; No Voice Too Small; Beatrix Potter, Scientist; and Farmers Unite!

11 am-2:20 pm CT

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Julie Rowan-Zoch

Julie Rowan-Zoch

Books: Louis; I’m a Hare, So There!; and Not All Sheep Are Boring!

9:30 am-10:50 am MT

Soaring '20s Call to Action Against Gun Violence

I wrote this concrete poem in the shape of an AR-15 after Parkland and never shared it. I saw the "flame" as a fire of activism catching, spreading for change. Now, with so many more mass shootings logged—now, after Uvalde—the poem reads differently to me.

Babies. 

We are their parents. 

We are their teachers. 

They are the people we write for. 

But all the words that can be written have been written. We must channel our shock, our anger, our disbelief, our frustration, our heartbreak, our anxiety—into action. 

May our nation mobilize now so I never need to share this poem again.

—Lindsay H. Metcalf

Links for Immediate Action

Everytown for Gun Safety

Sandy Hook Promise

March for Our Lives

Demand Action Against Gun Violence (5calls.org)

Demand a Federal Ban on Assault Weapons (5calls.org)

Support Federal Red Flag Legislation to Prevent Gun Violence (5calls.org)

Wear Orange Weekend: June 3-5

How to help Uvalde families (NPR)

Here are the gun bills stalled in Congress (The Hill)

School Shooting Resources (National Child Traumatic Stress Network)

Get Educated

For adults:

THE SECOND AMENDMENT: A Biography by Michael Waldman

GUNFIGHT: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America by Adam Winkler

CARRY: A MEMOIR OF SURVIVAL ON STOLEN LAND by Toni Jensen

TRIGGER POINTS: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America by Mark Follman

For Teens:

WHOSE RIGHT IS IT? The Second Amendment and the Fight Over Guns by Hana Bajramovic (nonfiction)

THREE THINGS I KNOW ARE TRUE by Betty Culley (fiction)

For Middle Schoolers: 

AFTERMATH by Emily Barth Isler (fiction)

THIS IS NOT A DRILL by K.A. Holt (fiction)

For Elementary and Younger:

THE SECOND AMENDMENT: The Right to Bear Arms by Kirsten W. Larson (nonfiction)

THE BREAKING NEWS by Sarah Lynne Reul (fiction)

Sesame Street resources on gun violence

Book list shared by the PJ Library

Book Birthday: DON’T HUG DOUG

By Carrie Finison

Pardon me, but would you like a hug? 

I’m not normally a big hugger, but today I feel like I could hug the WHOLE WORLD! My second picture book — DON’T HUG DOUG, illustrated by Daniel Wiseman — hits bookshelves today! 

It’s a book I hope will make kids smile, but also help spark important conversations between children and adult readers about who and when they like to hug — or not! Because while you can hug a pug, or a bug, or even a slug, you can’t hug Doug. He doesn’t like it!

Here’s a short video I made to share more about the book.

And now, like Doug, I have some high fives to dole out! I’m not quite as good at high fives as Doug is, but I will try my best.

Illustration by Daniel Wiseman

• A high-five to illustrator Daniel Wiseman, who gave the book huge visual appeal

• To editor Stephanie Pitts and the whole team at Putnam Books for Young Readers who have done so much to help shape and support this book

• To my agent, Linda Epstein, who kept saying, “What about that hug book? I liked that one!” when the manuscript was stuck in a drawer

• To all my critique partners and groups who have been with me from the start, asking tough questions like, “But how will it end?”

• To book lovers everywhere — teachers, booksellers, librarians, parents, and kids, who have expressed so much enthusiasm for this book and have helped spread the word, even during this difficult pandemic time

• And most especially to my family, for supporting me through everything. I truly could not have done this without you!

If you’d like to join me and Daniel Wiseman for virtual hugs and high fives in celebration of the book, please register for the DON’T HUG DOUG virtual launch party hosted by Belmont Books at 6:30 p.m. ET February 3.

Order a signed copy from Belmont Books. (Request “signed copy” and any personalization in the Order Comments field.)

Subscribe to my newsletter for more DON’T HUG DOUG events and giveaways!

Join me for even more DOUG goodness!

Book Details

DON'T HUG DOUG

by Carrie Finison, Illustrated by Daniel Wiseman

Pub Date: January 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1984813022
Publisher: Putnam Books for Young Readers

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Carrie Finison writes picture books with humor and heart, including DON'T HUG DOUG (2021), DOZENS OF DOUGHNUTS (2020), and the forthcoming HURRY, LITTLE TORTOISE and LULU & ZOEY (2022). She lives in the Boston area with her family. For updates and giveaways, subscribe to her newsletter, check out her website or follow on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.