Are you ready to Drop Everything and Read?

Raise your hands if you’d love to stop what you’re doing and read instead. Now, high five yourself because we’re giving you permission to do just that. After all, April is D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) Month!

D.E.A.R. is the acronym beloved children’s author Beverly Cleary penned in Ramona Quimby, Age 8. In this story, Ramona’s third grade teacher, Mrs. Whaley, tells the students they will have Sustained Silent Reading every day.

“This means that every day after lunch we are going to sit at our desks and read silently to ourselves any book we choose in the library.”

The students could read what they wanted and would not have to write a book report. To make Sustained Silent Reading sound more fun, Mrs. Whaley decided to call it D.E.A.R.

(Ramona, of course, thought Sustained Silent Reading was better because it sounded more grown up. It also got her out of playing with Willa Jean after school.)

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 was published in 1981. Since then, Drop Everything and Read promotions have been held on April 12 in honor of Beverly Cleary’s birthday, but why stop there? HarperCollins Publishers decided to make D.E.A.R. a month-long celebration – a decision we’re happy to support.

All month long, we’ll share photos of Library staff dropping everything to read on our Facebook page and invite you do the same. After all, what reader doesn’t want an excuse to finish one more chapter?