Big People Reading For Little Ones: Bertelsmann Employees Participate In National Reading Day 

Children love stories. Those who have read a book to their own children or to their grandchildren know how much kids enjoy being read to and becoming absorbed in the stories, and that usually one story is not enough. Next Friday, November 18, 2005, several thousand people will have the pleasure of reading to children from their favorite books in kindergartens, primary schools, libraries and bookstores. And Bertelsmann employees from the Corporate Center in Gütersloh or Verlagsgruppe Random House in Munich will be participating. The occasion is the national reading day "Große für Kleine," which Stiftung Lesen and the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" have organized.

"Reading by children is on the decline. A quarter of all 15 year-old kids in Germany cannot read properly, and almost half of them never pick up a book just for fun," Christoph Schäfer of Stiftung Lesen explained the background of reading day. "The importance of reading as the basis for acquiring basic abilities like language skills and concentration and, later on, reading can't be valued enough," Schäfer said. "We need a living reading culture and have to motivate parents and other relatives to read more to their children." Two out of three parents no longer have the time or will to do so according to the Federal Statistics Office. This is a statistic that the initiative "Wir lessen vor – überall & jederzeit" (We read – anywhere and anytime), called to life two years ago by Stiftung Lesen and "Zeit," is aiming to reverse. Reading Day on November 18 is this year's highlight: during the first national Reading Day in fall 2004 almost 700 events took place in 350 cities with more than 2,000 readers.

This year, too, those who were interested were able to contact Stiftung Lesen, which then arranged for them to go to kindergartens, schools, and other institutions. But many people took things into their own hands by contacting local kindergartens and schools. The foundation supports organizers and readers with numerous tips for the campaign day. Alongside Gruner + Jahr, Verlagsgruppe Random House and Bertelsmann AG are sponsors of Stiftung Lesen. Gunter Thielen addressed the employees in the Corporate Center in an e-mail asking them to support Reading Day. "Not only those who have grandchildren know how important and beautiful it is to read to children, to experience stories with them, and to introduce them into the world of books step by step," Thielen explained.

He invited employees to go to kindergartens in Gütersloh for one hour during working hours to read stories. 26 individuals – 13 women and 13 men – accepted the invitation in the days following his appeal. Katharina Lindenberg and Sandra Lütke-Dörhoff from Bertelsmann's Corporate Communications, who handled all of the organizational details, sent them to eleven kindergartens in the region. They also provided them with a list of book suggestions for Reading Day to choose one title. Among them were classics such as Astrid Lindgren's "The Children on Troublemaker Street," Heinrich Hoffmann's "Struwwelpeter" illustrated by Fritz Kredel, and "Viel Spaß mit Onkel Tobi" by Hans-Georg Lenzen, as well as more recent titles including "Eine Geburtstagstorte für die Katze" with the characters Pettson and Findus invented by Sven Nordqvist, and "Von Yogakatzen und Bücherfressern," which includes stories by famous children's book authors recommended by celebrities. "And since one hour is not enough to read an entire book, a book will be given to each of the children after the reading," said Katharina Lindenberg.

Verlagsgruppe Random House in Munich has come up with a different concept for Reading Day. "We have invited fourth graders from a primary school to a kind of open house here at Neumarkterstraße," reports Dorette Peters, who is in charge of organizing the event. "Here, we will explain to them how books are made – the kind that's totally in right now: Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's Spiderwick mysteries." After a short lecture about the subject, Random House employees will take the about 30 students on a tour through the children's book editor's offices, the advertising department and production facilities. Of course, they will also get a reading on Reading Day: Random House Managing Director Joerg Pfuhl and some of his employees will read one or two exciting chapters from the latest Spiderwick book. And, finally, each child can also take home a book and finish reading the story at home.

Numerous celebrities have agreed to read throughout Germany in kindergartens and schools on November 18. In addition to Elke Heidenrich, host of the ZDF format "Lesen!" and the reading ambassador of the initiative "Wir lessen vor – überall & jederzeit," football players Oliver Bierhoff and Marco Bode, actors Meret Becker and Ulrich Mathes, and TV hosts Ulla Kock am Brink and Steffen Seibert will be taking time for the children.