Reading With Rover

Once upon a time in Bothell, Washington, there was (and still is) a #Librarian named MieMie Wu. MieMie wanted to make reading more fun for kids because she LOVED reading and she knew how important it was for children to love reading too!

MieMie heard about a program in Utah called R.E.A.D.® where kids read aloud to dogs. R.E.A.D.® stands for Reading Education Assistance Dogs. Through R.E.A.D.®, MieMie learned that #kids who really needed help reading had improved their skills and confidence when they were assigned a #readingassistancedog.

MieMie thought that having kids read to dogs was SUPER cool because dogs don’t judge kids when they read aloud. So she set out to start a similar program in Washington and she named it “Reading with Rover”.

MieMie needed help getting good dogs and kind people to volunteer so she contacted a nice lady named Dotti Snow. Dotti had Pet Partners® registered therapy dogs that would visit patients in hospitals. Dotti thought MieMie’s idea was GREAT and offered her therapy dogs as reading assistance dogs!

MieMie also knew LOTS of dogs were needed for the Reading with Rover program – so she called a dog trainer named Becky Bishop. Becky, like Dotti, had two therapy dogs of her own: Boomer and Moose. Becky was happy to help MieMie find more Reading with Rover teams. Becky, as a dog trainer, is in the business of helping families teach their dogs good manners, something all dogs need, especially Reading with Rover dogs! And so the Reading with Rover story began and continues today.

livelovesharekiwanis #community #education #literacy #dog

Similar Posts