Nursing a Love for Reading

The Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC

In Canada, one in four high school graduates can't read or write well enough to further their education. On January 28, the Montreal Children's Hospital of the MUHC and the Centre for Literacy will celebrate Family Literacy Day for the first time by inviting three children's writers and entertainers to visit the hospital to read, sing and perform to children, their parents and staff. There are also displays, games, and book and toy give-aways.

Join us between 09h and 15h as we nurse the love for reading.

The writers/entertainers will be at the Montreal Children's Hospital (2300 Tupper) on the second floor (2B) clinic area at the following times. Each performance will last approximately 25 minutes:

• 10:00 am: LP Camozzi will read in English from his book Pasta Pazoo, aimed at children ages three to five years old. He will also sing some of his original children's songs and play the blues harmonica. LP (Leonard Patrick) moved to Montreal several years ago, after spending many years in British Columbia, and released his first CD, Even Kids Get the Blues, in 2003. LP is the oldest of seven in his family, and has three grown children of his own.
• 11:00 am: Marie-Louise Gay will read in French from her picture-book stories Stella, reine des neiges and Caramba, aimed at children ages four to nine years old. Marie-Louise Gay was born in Quebec City and lived in Ontario and British Columbia before moving back to Montreal. For the last 15 years, Marie-Louise Gay has been writing, illustrating and creating only for children, including Rainy Day Magic, Yuck a Love Story, the Stella and Sam series, and Caramba. Her books have been published in many languages: French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Slovenian and many others. She has received many national and international honours over the years, and travels extensively to give workshops and readings.
• 12:00 pm: Anna Fuerstenberg will read in English and Spanish three stories for children ages nine to 12, Under The Lilacs, Play Ball and The Mirror. Anna Fuerstenberg was born in a refugee camp in Stuttgart, Germany, came to Canada as a child and won a scholarship to theatre school when she was eight. It changed her life. She writes, directs, performs, teaches and was the artistic director of the bilingual Teatro Sin Fronteras in Toronto and the Theater Plant. She also helped found Women in Theatre and was present at the beginnings of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.

Every year since 1999, Family Literacy Day has been celebrated in Canada to promote the importance of reading and learning together as a family. Because of the economic and social consequences of this problem, promoting literacy is an important part of preventive pediatric medicine.

The Montreal Children's Hospital is the pediatric teaching hospital of the McGill University Health Centre. This institution is a leader in the care and treatment of sick infants, children and adolescents from across Quebec. The Montreal Children's Hospital provides a high level and broad scope of health care services, and provides ultra-specialized care in many fields including: neonatology, cardiology and cardiac surgery; neurology and neurosurgery, traumatology; genetic research; psychiatry and child development and musculoskeletal conditions, including orthopedics and rheumatology. Fully bilingual and multicultural, the institution respectfully serves an increasingly diverse community in more than 50 languages.

The Centre for Literacy is committed to supporting and improving literacy practices in schools, the community and the workplace. We are dedicated to increasing public understanding of the changing definition of literacy in a complex society by providing information, resources and training. Since 1995, the Centre for Literacy has collaborated with the MUHC on Health Literacy research projects and issues, and has published two Research Briefs on Health Communications. For more information, please visit our website.

2003 International Adult Literacy Survey, published in November 2005, ABC Canada organization