The IBBY President: Read with Me Gave Me a Big Surprise

The President of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), Mingzhou Zhang, visited the Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature and the Read with Me House on 24 April 2019 and was introduced to the different projects carried out by the institute including Childhood Studies, History of Childhood Culture Museum, Ketabak and Read with Me.

During this visit, the institute presented a collection of Iran’s early books for children and young adults and a small portion of the Culture Museum’s artifacts.

He was then invited to the Read with Me House and introduced to the various parts of the program,  having dialogue with the Read with Me team of experts and trainers.

After the team shared its experiences from various regions of Iran, Mingzhou Zhang expressed his delight for having visited Iran and getting to know Read with Me from up close and said: “I knew about Read with Me for several years but this visit still gave me a big surprise. However, when I really come here, I feel something very different. It becomes cubic, three-dimensional, even four-dimensional! And it becomes very lively and concrete. It means Read with Me has its own life and the life of Read with Me is given by all of you. Its soul lies in your eyes and in your smiles. A word repeatedly came into my mind that you’re all angels. I was deeply touched and it encouraged me a lot. Being the IBBY president, I’m sorry that I had not yet known enough about Read with Me before. My coming this time to Iran, to here, was a really wise decision, before it is too late. I think Read with Me is a very good experience, a very shiny example of reading promotion worldwide. You see, there are many people doing similar things but here it is in very high quality. And the quality is guaranteed by the research of experts. And the organization and operation of Read with Me is systematical. Very persuasive. And it is easy to copy. I hope that I can do something to promote Read with Me in countries other than Iran.”

About Read with Me

“Read with Me” is a reading promotion program for all children, especially for those deprived and in crisis. This program is being implemented under the supervision of the Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature. The program has been built upon providing quality books for all children. For those in particular who don’t normally have access to such books, making “All children have the right to read quality book” its main concern.

Read with Me concentrates on Improving Basic Literacy and Reading Aloud, using discussion and dramatic arts as means of making reading a joyful and effective experience for children.  Therefore, in addition to reaching out to children with carefully chosen quality books, the program holds various workshops to empower teachers and tutors with Reading Aloud and its related activities.