On Oct. 7, ETHS hosted its second annual E-Town Community Literacy Fest, an event designed to celebrate the power of books and to inspire a love for reading in the next generation. The festival included games, raffle drawn prizes, food and free books. To host the event, ETHS partnered with Young Black and Lit, a non-profit organization that helps affirm Black children by providing free books from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. In addition to a celebration of literature, the event also aimed to build community.
“Before you can place a book in front of a student, whether in elementary school or highschool, it’s important to get to know and build a relationship with the student,” said Traci Brown-Powell, Instructional and Informational Specialist at ETHS.
Ella Pareti, a senior, attended this year’s festival as a way to receive community service hours. Pareti was in charge of setting up the bag decorating stand, where kids could participate in arts and crafts.
“I think experiences like this help you become a part of the community. Just by doing this experience, I’ve met new people and made great friends with them,” said Pareti.
The festival was not just limited to ETHS students, parents and faculty but was completely open to the Evanston community as a whole. The goal of the open access was to showcase the power of literature to as many people as possible.
“Literacy is important to foster at such a young age because it relates to many more subjects including math, science and history,” said Brown-Powell.
Brown-Powell herself mainly works in the East Library, located on the second floor of the east wing in ETHS. She loves many parts of literature, however, one of her favorite parts is books that connect to culture and experiences.
“Many people say ‘don’t judge a book by its cover,’ but we do,” said Brown-Powell. “I believe that when a student sees someone who looks like them on a cover, not just race but other retrospectives of themselves, they are more inclined to read that book.”
Parents who brought their children to the event also recognized the importance of a variety of culture-representation in children’s literature.
“I enjoy coming here because of the free books, specifically, a variety of African-American books,” said one parent. “It’s important for people to attend these types of events because it brings even more culture into the Evanston community, and if people don’t come, then it won’t be prioritized anymore and eventually funding to these events will be stopped.”
Whatever the reason for attending, many parents and children came to the E-Town Community Literacy Fest to celebrate their love of reading, and to develop community relations in the process.
