Mark Woods: Childhood literacy programs are about more than childhood literacy

There probably will be a perception that other initiatives are more significant than the one Mayor Donna Deegan will kick off Saturday at the Jacksonville Main Library.

As part of Mayor Deegan’s River City Readers, a citywide literacy challenge for 2024, kids will receive free books and clear backpacks. There will be face-painting, the Jaguars drumline, the PBS Kids Characters. The mayor will challenge children and their caregivers to download an app, Beanstack, to record their reading minutes — with a goal of 20 minutes a day — and compete for prizes.

“This really is going to be fun,” Deegan said.

Perhaps because it will be fun, it might not be viewed as having the seriousness of other Jacksonville initiatives, ones involving crime and economic development and quality of life. But in a city where less than half the third-graders are reading at grade level, this not only is a serious issue, Deegan says it very much involves crime and economic development and quality of life.

“If we can get our kids reading on grade level, I think you’re going to see a dramatic impact on so many other things,” she said. “Literacy is so fundamental to success in everything we want to accomplish in our city.”

It doesn’t happen overnight. And it doesn’t just happen in the classroom.

It makes me think about, and appreciate, my personal experiences — as a kid, parent and citizen — with reading programs.

My daughter was one of the tens of thousands of children who grew up with Mayor Peyton’s Book Club. That was one of the most ambitious reading programs the city has undertaken. And it was about more than literacy. It went hand-in-hand with the long-term vision of the Jacksonville Journey.

Mia loved getting those books. And she learned about Jacksonville from them. I’ve said before that thanks to Fran Peacock Coker, the late author behind the Mayor Peyton books, Mia knew the names of all the bridges at a young age. Not long after learning her ABCs, she knew her ABDs (Acosta, Buckman and Dames Point).

I can still picture some of the books I read, or had read to me, when I was growing up. And not just because some are still on my bookshelves. One of them, “Beady Bear,” was the story of a boy and his wind-up toy bear. It was a library book. I apparently decided that because the drawings were black-and-white, I really should take a crayon and add some color.

I mostly stayed in the lines. But for some reason my parents still didn’t appreciate this.

They had to buy the book. But, thankfully, after scolding me, they kept taking me to the library and allowing me to check out more books. And when I was a bit older, maybe late elementary school, there was a reading challenge.

You signed up and received something to track your reading. Not an app. A paper chart. Each time you finished reading a book, you got a shiny star. The goal was to get a dozen stars.

Most kids wanted to read fiction. So you were required to read at least one non-fiction book. I was different. All of my books were non-fiction. Not that I was reading about major world events or history or anything like that. I was reading sports books. So I guess, without realizing it, I was reading history, learning about Jim Thorpe and Jackie Robinson and more.

But the main thing was these were books I wanted to read, books I chose to read. It was one thing to go to school and be required to read something. It didn’t matter how good a book was — and I later realized some of the books I had to read were so good — it wasn’t the same as choosing to read something.

Deegan has her own book memories, from long before she wrote a couple of them. She remembers the Dr. Seuss books her parents read to her. She remembers when she was a bit older, gobbling up Nancy Drew mysteries. And she remembers when she became a parent, watching her children do the same with Harry Potter books.

“It was a competition to see who could finish the Harry Potter books the fastest,” she said. “It brought so much joy. I think reading does that.”

At its core, that’s what this initiative is about. Trying to encourage kids to experience the joy of reading. Making it fun. Making it a competition.

“The idea here is to instill a love of reading,” Deegan said.

And not just reading something on a screen. The goal is 20 minutes a day for each child, for a collective 300,000 minutes across the city. I don’t know if that’s possible. In an age with so many more distractions than when I was a kid, it seems even more challenging. And because of that, maybe even more important.

mwoods@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4212

Mayor Deegan’s River City Readers

What: the kickoff event for Mayor Deegan’s River City Readers, with free books and clear backpacks, boxed lunches, Jaguars drumline, Jaxson deVille, the Roar, PBS Kids Characters.

When: Saturday, Jan. 27, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Jacksonville Main Library, free parking in the Duval Library Garage.

More information: www.jacksonville.gov/rivercityreaders

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Mayor Deegan to kick off River City Readers challenge