Stories have a special way of bringing people together, even when miles keep them apart. That is why United Through Reading is excited to welcome our longtime partner, Reading is Fundamental (RIF), to share their annual Rally to Read initiative. Read how military families can join a community of readers and discover free read-alouds, activities, and resources below.
At RIF, we believe reading has the power to open doors to imagination, opportunity, understanding, and connection. But children don’t develop a love of reading on their own. It grows through the people around them: families who share stories, educators who put the right book in a child’s hands, and communities that make reading something to celebrate.
That belief is at the heart of RIF’s Rally to Read, our annual six-month reading initiative that brings families, classrooms, and communities together around the joy of books.
And this October, as we launch a new year of Rally to Read, we’re starting with a fitting theme: Community.
Reading Creates Connection
Books have a remarkable ability to bring us together. A shared story can spark a conversation, help children see the world through someone else’s eyes, or create a meaningful ritual between a child and a trusted adult.
For military families, those connections can be especially powerful. RIF has been proud to partner with United Through Reading for many years, working together to support military families and help children experience the comfort, consistency, and joy that reading can provide. Whether families are together or separated by distance, stories offer a way to stay connected and remind children that reading can be about much more than words on a page.
That is also what Rally to Read is designed to do: invite everyone into a shared celebration of reading.
Rally With Us This October
Each month from October through March, Rally to Read explores a new theme through author read-alouds, book recommendations, activities, and free resources that families and educators can use wherever reading happens.
For October’s Community theme, families can enjoy two special read-alouds: A Room with a View by Joanna Ho and How to Hatchby Sara Holly Ackerman. Each story offers an opportunity to read together and then keep the conversation going about the people, places, and relationships that help us feel connected.
Families and educators can visit RallytoRead.org throughout the month to watch the read-alouds, explore accompanying resources, and discover more ways to make reading part of their own communities.
And it doesn’t end there. RIF offers thousands of free reading resources through Literacy Central, including activities, book resources, reading tips, and tools designed to help families and educators inspire children to read.
Families can also explore Skybrary, RIF’s trusted kids’ reading app, where every child can access 100 eBooks for free.
A Community of Readers
For nearly 60 years, RIF has worked toward a future in which every child has the opportunity, and the inspiration, to read. We know we cannot achieve that vision alone. It takes families, educators, authors, partners, and organizations like United Through Reading working together to create a culture where books and reading are part of every child’s life.
This October, we invite military families and the entire United Through Reading community to Rally to Read with us.
Read a story together. Share it with someone you love. Explore a new book. Start a conversation.
Because when we build communities around reading, we help children discover something even bigger than a good book: the joy of belonging to a community of readers.
Join the Rally to Read challenge today and explore more of RIF’s free resources for families and educators.
