Festival Aims

The English Festival Committee strongly believes that:

• reading and writing are activities that, in themselves, provide pleasure and satisfaction for young people
• reading and writing can help young people discover themselves and the world
• reading and writing are language activities for everyone, and that all students—not just the very best—should be encouraged to develop them
• reading and writing, while both intensely personal, are effectively learned in social contexts, in the interaction of student with student and student with teacher

Therefore, the Committee’s purpose each year is to:

• provide an exciting and stimulating setting for enjoyable and worthwhile reading and writing activities
• support teachers who emphasize reading and writing in the classroom
• offer models for effective classroom activities
• involve the whole community in fostering good reading and writing skills
• recognize and reward distinctive writing
• introduce students to a wide variety of superior books of broad interest
• encourage parents to help their children obtain Festival books, to read the books, and to discuss them with the children
• bring to the community authors who can help teachers, librarians, and parents stimulate children’s interest in reading and writing
• build through the Festival book lists a common body of shared reading
• help students become lifelong readers

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