Pages and Pints is an annual event from 5 to 8 p.m. this Wednesday at Municipal Brew Works, 20 High St. It’s a community book swap where readers can bring in gently used books and swap them for a new reading experience.
“It’s another reason to bring the community together. Reading is fundamental. It’s important,” Municipal Brew Works co-owner Jim Goodman said. “The book swap is about books, it’s about literacy. Same as putting the literacy kits at Pour House. You don’t have to be a beer-drinker to do that.”
Books and Brews is the annual Butler County United Way event, and this is the second time in as many years it’ll be at Pour House. It will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Pour House, 138 Riverfront Plaza.
Pour House co-owner Toni Salem said reading helps kids “build those fundamental skills” that everyone needs, and supporting a good cause in turn “makes volunteering fun.
“It doesn’t have to be work,” she said of volunteering. “It can be social and something fun where you have a drink, have an appetizer, talk with your fellow volunteers and do good.”
This education event will see volunteers ― which more are needed ― to assemble literacy kits for young children. The kits will include the book “Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale” by Marcus Pfister, plus glue, aluminum foil, multi-color tissue paper, papers, and Ziploc baggies. The items in the literacy kits will be used interactively as the children read the book “to make reading even more fun,” Salem said.
The finished literacy kits will be provided to the Butler County Educational Service Center to be distributed throughout its early childhood education programs. Sign up to volunteer at https://bc-unitedway.org/books-and-brews.
Next year’s Books and Brews event with Pour House is expected to include “Monkey & Bug’s Night at the Corn Stand Jam,” written by Scott Smallwood and illustrated by Hannah Tebbee, both from Hamilton.
“Our goal was to get it out to as many kids as possible,” said Smallwood, who wrote the book for the Corn Stand Jam organization. “We’ve given out three times as many books than we actually sold, so as we get funds from donors and through sales, all that money goes back into the organization to provide books for school kids.”
Smallwood, who will also be at Wednesday’s Pints and Pages event, said encouraging reading early in life helps set up kids for success.
“There are so many people I know who are veracious readers who became very successful in life, and if you can get kids to read, you can get kids to a lot of different things,” he said.
Lane Public Libraries spokesperson Carrie Mancuso said it’s great to see so much focus on literacy and reading, because for libraries, every day is Literacy Day.
“We love to see collaboration and anybody taking on the challenges of literacy by making it fun and making it for all ages,” she said. “Literacy is one of the most important life skills you can have ... because without it, it’s really hard to function in our society.”
Hamiltonians have the opportunity to continue their reading journey by joining in the annual One City One Book initiative. This year’s book is “A Woman of No Importance,” where people are encouraged to borrow a book from the library, either a physical copy or through the library’s Libby app.
One City One Book will host a night with the author, Sonia Purnell, at Miami University Hamilton on Oct. 1. It’s a free event, but RSVPs are needed and can be made at miamioh.edu/regionals/rsvp. On Oct. 2, the Fitton Center’s Celebrating Self series will feature a discussion of the Purnell’s book with Ohio native Erin Dietrick, the programs and podcast assistant at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. Celebrating Self is a ticketed event, and are available through FittonCenter.org.
“Reading is something, for me, has always been a pleasure,” Smallwood said. “Growing up in the ‘70s and the late ‘80s as a child, reading was your gateway to your imagination. You learn so much from reading.”
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