Los Angeles - September 12, 2006

By the Book

Public Library Literacy Program

On which side of the street do you park on Wednesdays? What the heck is Brigitte Bardot talking about? And what makes those veggie corn dogs so tasty?

Just think of all of the good stuff you’d miss if you couldn’t read.

It’s estimated that more than 40 million American adults are illiterate. And for most people that means a lifetime of poverty, low-paying jobs and, yes, parking tickets.

No need to let facts like that stand: Do something.

First, contact the L.A. Public Library’s Adult Literacy Services for a short interview. Then sign up for the seven-hour tutor training course (offered at any literacy center in town), where you will learn how to work with an adult student (who speaks English but reads and writes below a sixth-grade level). Based on your location, schedule, and interests, the program will make a tutor-student match. A six-month minimum commitment of two 90-minute sessions per week is required.

But hey, what’s six months when you can give someone a lifetime of literacy?

Just tell them not to look too closely at the “Not Dog” labels.

To find a literacy center near you, go to lapl.org.

  Do-Gooder