Celebrate World Read Aloud Day with NABU at Bookshine Academy

“Let’s make reading a home-grown habit, not just a school affair,” exclaimed Madam Joan Nancy, Headteacher at Bookshine Academy, as we celebrated World Read Aloud Day. This global event, dedicated to the joy and power of reading aloud and story sharing, was a resounding success with over 100 children participating.

Learn more about the NABU app and its mission here.

We kicked things off with an engaging singing game to energize the children before diving into the world of books. The young readers explored three captivating NABU titles, all available for free on the NABU app or the web reader: Sleeping Baby Rabbits, Furaha Saves the Farm, and Zuri and Bahati’s Flip Flopi Dhow. These diverse and culturally relevant stories are designed to foster literacy, promote language development, and engage children in fun, interactive ways, while emphasizing the importance of mother tongue language and bilingual education.

“Our children love to read, but access to reading materials is a real challenge. We often have to make do with what we can find,” shared Thomas Oyieko, a Grade 2 and 3 teacher at Bookshine Academy. “We’re incredibly grateful for NABU’s partnership with our school. Our students will now have access to hundreds of online books in multiple languages, which will be a huge boost to their reading skills,” he added.

Bookshine Academy, a recent recipient of print books donated through NABU’s collaboration with HP. These initiatives are giving children access to supplementary reading resources in multilingual formats, helping to close the literacy gap and improve educational outcomes in local communities.

“Reading aloud offers incredible benefits for learners,” said Beryl Oywer, NABU’s East Africa Regional Manager. “It builds confidence, sharpens listening skills, expands vocabulary, and, most importantly, cultivates a lifelong love of reading. At NABU, we’re thrilled to support our community through our various reading tools and programs, ensuring that our children read, rise, and reach their full potential in their native languages.”

World Read Aloud Day, an annual celebration started by LitWorld in 2010, highlights the importance of literacy as a fundamental human right and celebrates the power of stories to connect, inspire, and transform lives. This day serves as a reminder that sharing stories aloud can create a world where every child has access to the joy and opportunity of reading, no matter their mother tongue.

Join NABU in celebrating World Read Aloud Day and the transformative power of storytelling! Let’s continue to advocate for children’s access to books in multilingual formats, foster reading skills, and encourage a love of learning in every mother tongue language.