SitStayRead

Feeling those back-to-school vibes yet?!  We are!! Time to ramp up our reading alongside Chicago students this fall.  And time to raise some funds for SitStayRead's unique literacy enrichment programs which tap into the canine-human bond to bring joy and confidence to our young students.

Join the SitStayRead Community for Read-A-Palooza 2024, our first annual month-long reading challenge and peer-to-peer fundraiser to support our work across Chicago this school year!

Get LIT while raising funds to support our return to Chicago Public Schools for the first time in over four years, new programming with the Chicago Public Libraries as part of their Jump Into Reading initiative, and the expansion of our bilingual programming with all our school and community partners.

The need. Literacy is a determinant of academic and subsequent success as well as personal agency. By third grade, kids who have not moved past learning to read, and begun reading to learn, face many barriers and risks. The 2023 Chicago Public Schools state report card indicates that only 12.2% of low-income third graders were reading at grade level, in part a reflection of learning loss during the pandemic.

Our impact. SitStayRead works primarily with kindergarten though second-grade students in Chicago communities with 90% low-income households. The joy our dedicated staff, volunteer Book Buddies, and Certified Reading Assistance Dog Teams bring into classrooms motivates attendance, helps foster a love of reading aloud, and creates a conducive atmosphere for learning. Since 2003 SiStayRead has provided individual and small-group attention rarely afforded to kindergarten through second-grade students at this crucial developmental stage of language learning. We have distributed tens of thousands of new books as well, helping build home libraries for our students and their families.

Thank you for supporting our students, our neighbors, as we keep working together towards a 100% literate Chicago!

• Sign up as an individual, family, classroom, team or company
• Create a personalized team and individual giving page
  • Tell your networks why SitStayRead's work is important from your point of view
  • Share about what you are reading and how literacy has changed your own life
• Create your own challenge or set goals using one of our suggestions
  • Read-a-palooza asks all participants to commit to reading for pleasure at least 15 minutes a day for 30 days before October 9
  • Create your own goals and milestones
    • Read to a child, pet, or plant every day for 30 days
    • Read a chapter book every day for 30 days
    • Read a chapter of a single book every day fo 30 days
    • Read in a second language every day for 30 days
    • Read on 30 different locations over 30 days
• Download a Read-a-palooza 2024 reading tracker or create one of your own to track progress towards your reading goal.  
• Get ready to read
  • Get or update your Chicago Public Library card now!
  • Visit your local library
  • Find a Little Free Library near you or start one in your neighborhood or office
  • Add an e-book app to your phone or another device
  • Support a local independent bookstore
  • Discover Bookshop.org
  • Create a reading nook in your home
  • Schedule household or personal reading time
  • Put your reading tracker in a visible space
  • Follow @SitStayRead on Instagram and share your preparations and book lists with our community using the hashtag #Readaplooza24
• Reach out to friends, family, colleagues, your alumni or faith community and others to support your efforts and SitStayRead's 2024-25 programs with a donation to your page.
• Save the Date: Saturday, October 12 from 10 am to noon at Fred Anderson Park and Dog Park. Read-a-palooza 2024 Celebration!  

Join us on Saturday, October 12 from 10 am to noon at Fred Anderson Park and Dog Park to celebrate and meet your fellow readers and our event sponsors! Bring your tracker along so we can recognize your effiorts.

Enjoy a literacy jamboree, prizes, entertainment, snacks, and book/school supply/dog giveaways. provided by our generous in-kind sponsors!!