Read Across America Week Recap

What an unforgettable Read Across America Week at Penfield Children’s Center! From start to finish, our classrooms were filled with the magic of storytelling, wonderful new faces, and a love for reading that will last a lifetime.

The Power of Reading in Early Childhood

Reading plays a crucial role in a child’s development, fostering language skills, cognitive growth, and emotional connection. Exposure to books at a young age helps build vocabulary, enhances comprehension, and sparks creativity. At Penfield, we believe that early positive experiences with reading lay the foundation for lifelong learning and success. This week was a wonderful example of the joy and excitement that comes from reading together!

A Week Full of Stories and Smiles

Throughout the week, we had the honor of welcoming an incredible lineup of guest readers from our community, each bringing unique stories and experiences to share with our children. Their enthusiasm and passion for literacy created moments of wonder, excitement and fun among our children.

Celebrating Our Guest Readers

We were thrilled to welcome a diverse group of storytellers to Penfield to share their favorite books with our children. A huge thank you to:  Francie Dekker, local author  Darrell (DJ) Hines II, community partner, County Executive David Crowley, Ashley Servi, Alex Zamora, and Bre Fabry, board members of the Milwaukee Public Library, Cassidy Rae Duborg, author of Tiny Tutu Is All Mixed Up!, and her pup, Tutu.  Susan Kim, TMJ4 News,  Montse Ricossa, Telemundo, Author Vivian L. King, Joëlle Worm, Kern National Network for Flourishing in Medicine, Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Erick “Ck” Ledesma, Community Advisory Board for MAM and Board Member of Walkers Point Center for the Arts. Jenna Renno, Bernie’s Book Bank, Darlene Reina, Historic Milwaukee board member, Courtney Hyzer, Owner of Wonderland Bookshop, Phyllis King, 2025 Penfield Croquet Ball Chair and Penfield CEO Polina Makievsky.

A Heartfelt Thank You

A special thank you goes out to our incredible Penfield staff for their commitment to making this event a success. From planning and organizing to decorating our spaces and engaging with the children during storytime, your hard work and enthusiasm made this celebration truly special. It is because of your do what it takes attitude that we continue to create positive early experiences for the kids in our community.

A huge thank you to every guest who took the time to join us and share their love of reading. Seeing the joy and excitement on our children’s faces as they listened, engaged, and discovered new stories was truly priceless.

Moments like these make a lasting impact, helping to build a strong foundation for literacy and a lifelong love of books. This was such a special week and we can’t wait till next year!