Stories for All Program Starts at the Union City Library

The Union City Library will host the “Stories for All” event on Saturday October 25th from 10:00 - 4pm. This event is free and open to the public. This new event was developed by community volunteer Shyno Chacko Pandeya and Union City library branch manager Tracey Firestone as a way to encourage literacy within our diverse community. The event is based on research that finds that children who can “see” themselves in books become more enthusiastic readers.

“In a survey of more than 2,000 educators from First Book schools and programs, 90 percent of respondents agreed that the children in their programs would be more enthusiastic readers if they had access to books with characters, stories and images that reflect their lives and their neighborhoods. “- FirstBook.org

This event is a day where the community can encourage literacy and a joy of reading by showcasing books which are inclusive of a variety of ethnic populations. High school students from James Logan High School and other local high schools will volunteer and share their favorite books with younger children and provide short activities to further share the message that although we may look different, we are all similar.

“This idea came from my personal search to find books with diverse characters for my own kids to read. Unfortunately these are hard to find. Many “diversity” books showcase a specific culture in a distant land. I wanted to show the world which my kids see everyday. The world we live in is a diverse community yet many of the books about kids in America are not. We need to show children that they are also part of the stories. Books about imaginary places are wonderful but we also need to show the wonder in the diverse communities we see everyday.”

We welcome all families and children of all ages to join us for a fun day of reading and crafts. This is the first “Stories for All” event in the Alameda County Library system and we hope to expand this project to other branches of the library system.

Union City Library

34007 Alvarado-Niles Rd
Union City, CA
(510) 745-1464