Hello, Dear Reader. It’s Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R) Day. I can think of only one way to celebrate—devote thirty minutes to reading a book.
Origin – Beverly Cleary
D.E.A.R. Day occurs every year on April 12, the birthday of Beverly Cleary, that beloved author of books for children and young adults. In her book, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, the children at Ramona’s third grade class participated in sustained silent reading, and she loved it.
That fictional practice inspired the real-life D.E.A.R. Day, an event sponsored by the American Library Association, Cleary’s publisher HarperCollins, and many other organizations.
Drop Everything…
These days, we’ve all got a lot to drop. Every waking hour fills up with stuff to do. The stuff of our lives. When we manage to grab a few spare minutes, we seize our phones and play games, scroll through news articles, and watch videos. Or we turn on the big-screen TV and binge-watch mindless entertainment.
Even if you force yourself to pick up a book and set a timer for thirty minutes, will you stay disciplined enough to focus on reading that long? Will your phone, or TV, or radio, or noises from outside, or one of a hundred other things distract you?
…And Read…
The rules for D.E.A.R. Day don’t specify what books to read. Fiction or non-fiction, doesn’t matter. I recommend books printed on paper, though. If you’ve picked the half hour before going to bed, you’re better off avoiding screen time then.
I used to avoid reading before bed. To me it seemed like training my brain to link reading with sleeping. I worried it might lead to dozing while driving, just from reading road signs.
However, now that I’ve shifted my reading time to the half hour before bed, I haven’t noticed that problem. I’ve found reading at that hour helps me wind down and gets my body ready to relax.
…Day
By now you’ve picked up on a not-so-hidden agenda. Those promoting D.E.A.R. Day hope you’ll establish a habit. They want you to read on more days than just today. Every day, in fact.
Writers, in particular, like to encourage a habit of reading. Writers such as—
Poseidon’s Scribe