Families Celebrated Books in Cupertino

February 4, 2008 Cupertino, CA – Over 60 families attended and participated in the Festival of Books event held Saturday at Cupertino Community Hall. Attendees included, families with young children from daycare, pre-schools and kindergarten. Children made their own books, enjoyed a professional storyteller, and live music. Each child also received a free children’s book from the Read Aloud Collaborative of Santa Clara County, part of the Bring Me a Book Foundation. The children’s books distributed were - Hands Can, Freight Train, Have You Seen My duckling?, Always Come Home to Me, you’re All My Favorities, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Professional Story Teller, Megumi, led an interactive story about a young mouse looking for her future husband with help from her father. Two local children, Samy Cherfaoui and Alya Cherfauoi who are brother and sister played the roles as father and daughter mouse. Live music was provided by fifth grade musicians from Washington Open School in Santa Clara. The musicians were Daniel Dols, Theodora Vojnovic and Aku Sorensen. After the live music and story telling, Cupertino politicians read to the children. Guest readers included Mayor Dolly Sandoval, Vice Mayor Orrin Mahoney, Councilmember Gilbert Wong, and Library Commissioner Janet Riddell.

Mayor Sandoval said, “The good thing about reading is that it gets kids excited and connects families together. It is great to see all the Festival of Books partners make this event possible. This event helps families build a strong family unit whether it’s a single parent family, a two parent family or a diverse family.”

“Cupertino is a diverse community consisting of 45% Asian American (26% Chinese, 10% Indian, a mixture of Korean, Vietnamese, Pakistani and Japanese)”, said Cupertino Councilmember Gilbert Wong. According to Councilmember Wong, “the whole community is excited about our brand new library and loves to bring their kids to story time.”

“Vision Literacy is happy to join together with our partners, it’s great to see the community working together to make something happen. Festival of Books was a collaborative spirit, with lots of enthusiasm by members of the Cupertino City Council”, said Pat Lawson-North, Executive Director of Vision Literacy. Vision Literacy holds Family Literacy Programs in order to instill a love of reading in both parents and children. It is easy to understand why many adult learners choose to enroll in a literacy program: they want to read to their children, help them with schoolwork, and communicate in writing with school administrators and teachers. Vision Literacy's Family Literacy Program helps participants to create a cycle of literacy within the family; improve academic achievement; become more actively involved with children's schools; and, promote a safer home environment where adults can read directions for cleaning products and medicines.

Vision Literacy, a service of the Santa Clara County Library, provides adults in Santa Clara County with free literacy services. Vision Literacy partnered with Cupertino Library; West Valley Community Services, formerly Cupertino Community Services; Read Aloud Collaborative; FIRST 5 Santa Clara County; and, City of San Jose Library in celebrating books. FIRST 5 provides funding for the Read Aloud Collaborative of Silicon Valley for multiple community oriented Festival of Books events throughout the year. FIRST 5 Santa Clara County is also a contributor to the Festival of Books celebration, hosted by the Read Aloud Collaborative of Silicon Valley, taking place June 8th at Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose.

Cupertino Library teen volunteers, City of San Jose Library, Grail Family Services, and Hands on Bay Area Organization were also recognized for all their volunteer help to make this event successful.