Author Katherine Ayers to visit Besore Library

Katherine Ayres, author of Up, Down and Around, will visit the Lilian S. Besore Memorial Library at 10 a.m. Friday, April 4. Ayres is a Pennsylvania author whose book was selected for the 2008 One Book, Every Young Child early literacy program. The book has been called a "rollicking celebration of things that grow." It features children learning about a garden teeming with life, producing a variety of edible plants, such as corn that grows up, onions that grow down, and tomato vines that twine all around.

The One Book, Every Young Child program is designed to stress the importance of reading early and often to young children and how that impacts their future lives. In Pennsylvania, a half million children ages 3 to 6 are reached through the program each year.

Ayres said she is humbled and honored to have her book selected for this year's program. Of this book, she said "To me as a child, strawberries equaled summer. The best dinners were those with sweet corn and tomatoes fresh from my grandfather¿s garden. He loved growing all sorts of plants, and so do I."

Not only is the book a perfect choice given its simple and rhythmical language, it also features wonderful images of vegetables and bugs by illustrator, Nadine Bernard Westcott.

There is so much going on in this book that is easy on the ears and it is filled with fun illustrations.

In Pennsylvania, 56.7 percent of children ages zero to 5 are read to every day, above the national average of 47.8 percent; however only 36 percent of students are at or above the "proficient" level in reading by grade four. One Book, Every Young Child hopes to help change these statistics.

This event is free to the public.

The first 100 preschoolers to arrive will get a free copy of Up, Down and Around that can be signed by author Katherine Ayres at Besore on April 4.