Photograph by Vern Fisher/Monterey Herald via AP via The New Yorker

Photograph by Vern Fisher/Monterey Herald via AP
via The New Yorker

On Monday, April 11th, Beverly Cleary turned 100.  “She is still her good old self, telling us, for example, that she didn’t turn a hundred on purpose and that she will be celebrating with carrot cake – just the kind of thing you’d expect her to say,” reports the New Yorker.  She admits to The New York Times that Ramona is her favorite character:  “I was a well-behaved girl,” she says, “but I often thought like Ramona.”

Cleary invented “Drop Everything and Read Day” for third graders in Ramona the Pest, but great ideas find ways of slipping out of their books.  Now, DEAR day is a full-fledged celebration of reading that takes place all over the country during the month of April.  In Nashville, the best place to Drop Everything and Read is at Cheekwood on Saturday, April 16th!  Bring your blanket, pack a sandwich or buy a boxed lunch there, and don’t forget your book.  Fun fact:  you can bring an old one and pick a new one up at the free book swap.

Here are some things going on at Cheekwood as part of the day’s celebration:

SATURDAY, APRIL 16: Drop Everything and Read!

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East Side Storytellin’

11:00 am & 1:00 pm

Join East Side Story, Nashville’s all-local bookstore, for a very special edition of East Side Storytellin’ at Cheekwood.  Featuring Mark Sloniker, author of Search For The Sugar Puff Hollow, Jamina Jackson & Kaaren Engel, authors of Herman’s Journey, and musician Silly Grandpa, this spectacular show brings together books and music through storytelling.

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IMG_2549-1Book Swap at Cheekwood’s New Free Library

10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Take a book, leave a book!  Bring your gently used books to Cheekwood for a book swap in celebration of our new Free Library.

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“Plant a Story” Demonstration

10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Write your own story on wildflower seed paper and learn about planting your paper at home in this interactive garden demonstration.

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IMG_2537-croppedNashville Public Library Reading Corner

10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Visit the Nashville Public Library in Nashville’s “Best Place to Read” – the Sigourney Cheek Literary Garden.  Read a book in the garden and learn more about the library’s many resources.

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DEAR-holding_03This is Cheekwood’s first year to celebrate DEAR day.  Let’s help them make it a grand success!

The book I’m taking:  When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi, if I’m feeling serious.  Or I might just settle in under a tree with Ramona the Pest.  

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