Art and reading go hand in hand! Be an Art-RAGEOUS Reader this summer!

This summer as the Chicago Public Library celebrates art in every child’s life, here are ways to ‘draw’ art and reading into your family’s summer fun:

1. Create a special ‘art report’ about the book art in your summer reads this year.
2. Take paper and pencils outside with you or take along on your next family outing and stop and have an ‘art break’.
3. Look at the art in children’s books and discuss it. Can you imagine it hanging in the Art Institute of Chicago?
4. Next time you visit the Art Institute be sure to stop in the Ryan Education Center to cuddle up with a picture book or see an exhibit of original children’s book illustration. What a great way to discuss the art in children’s books.
5. Draw a picture of a favorite character in a book. What do you know about this character just from the picture your child draws?
6. Seek out art in your community—many of our Chicago Public Libraries have special collections of public art—can you find art in your neighborhood library.
7. And, of course, be sure to have a Chicago Public Library card so you can check out more great books about art, drawing and creating.
8. Recycle and create! Take a brown grocery bag, cut it open and lay it flat and then cover a book out of it. Your kids can then artistically decorate the cover…remember doing that when you were a kid?

Creating a City of Readers is everyone’s responsibility. Here’s how to begin:

1. Get a library card and use it.
2. Read aloud with a child for twenty minutes a day.
3. Have books in your home.
4. Get caught in the act of reading.