Hello, friends! Are you ready for World Read Aloud Day? It’s an annual celebration of sharing stories from the amazing folks at LitWorld and Scholastic. This year’s World Read Aloud Day will be February 5, 2025!
If you’re new to this page, I’m Kate Messner, author of more than sixty books for kids. I’m also a former middle school teacher and a forever reader. Each winter, I help out with LitWorld’s World Read Aloud Day by pulling together a list of author & illustrator volunteers who would like to spend part of the day doing quick virtual read-aloud visits with classrooms around the world to share the joy of stories.
To celebrate World Read Aloud Day, I’ll be offering virtual read-alouds from several of my new & upcoming books! Just bookmark this page & pop back the first week in February. They’ll be posted here by 2/1 and will be available for viewing with kids all month!
I’ll also be offering a special virtual Author in Residence Program for grades 4-8 this spring! Just pre-order a copy of my new novel, The Trouble with Heroes, from my local independent bookseller, The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid, NY, and you’ll automatically get an email from me in early March with your invitation & resources.
This virtual Author-in-Residence program includes:
• A pdf of the first 40-ish pages of The Trouble with Heroes to share with students
• The Trouble with Heroes teaching & discussion guide
• FOUR on-demand virtual poetry workshops (about 10-15 minutes each), all available through June 30
• An invitation to a live Zoom Author Visit Q&A session with me in late April
• A link for families to order personalized, signed copies (delivered to your school in early May)
You can read more about the book – and the virtual Author in Residence program here.
And of course, there’s also an AMAZING list of authors and illustrators who have volunteered to Zoom into classrooms for World Read Aloud Day this year!
WORLD READ ALOUD DAY IS FEBRUARY 5, 2025!
The authors & illustrators listed have volunteered their time to read aloud to classrooms and libraries all over the world. These aren’t long, fancy presentations; a typical one might go like this:
- 1-2 minutes: Author introduces himself or herself and talks a little about his or her books.
- 3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel
- 5-10 minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing
- 1-2 minutes: Author book-talks a couple books he or she loves (but didn’t write!) as recommendations for the kids
If you’re a teacher or librarian and you’d like to have an author Zoom with your classroom or library on World Read Aloud Day, here’s how to do it:
- Check out this list of volunteering authors and illustrators, and visit their websites to see which ones might be a good fit for your students. Note that this is a list of traditionally published book creators. This year, the wonderful Judy Campbell-Smith, author of AJ’S NEIGHBORHOOD, is also coordinating a list of self-published authors offering WRAD visits, and you can check out that list here. For both lists, you’ll want to check out the authors’ books ahead of time to make sure they’re a good fit for your readers.
- Contact the author directly by using the email provided or clicking on the link to his or her website and finding the contact form. Please be sure to provide the following information in your request:
- Your name and what grade(s) you work with
- Your city and time zone (this is important for scheduling!)
- Possible times to connect on February 7th. Please note authors’ availability and time zones. Adjust accordingly if yours is different!
- Your preferred platform (Zoom, Google Meet, etc.)
- A phone number where you can be reached on that day in case of technical issues
- Please understand that authors are people, too, and have schedules and personal lives, just like you, so not all authors will be available at all times. It may take a few tries before you find someone whose books and schedule fit with yours!
- If you’re lucky enough to book an author to visit for World Read Aloud Day, please honor that commitment. In years past, unfortunately, we’ve had some educators and librarians cancel when they found a different author, and that’s awfully demoralizing for folks who are volunteering their time. Please only schedule visit dates that you’re excited about keeping!
If you’re a traditionally published author or illustrator who would like to be added to the list, you can fill out this form to sign up. The wonderful Judy Campbell-Smith is also coordinating a list of self-published and ebook authors – if that’s you and you’d like to volunteer, please fill out her form here.
Authors: Once your schedule is full, please send an email via my website contact form, and I’ll remove your name from the list. Please note that due to deadlines and other obligations, it may take up to a week for me to update.