Award winning literacy program coming to Corbin Public Library

Kentucky Humanities, in cooperation with the Steele-Reese Foundation, will bring an award-winning family literacy program to the Corbin Public Library starting on Tuesday, April 4.

Prime Time Family Reading Time will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesdays from April 4 to May 9, at the Corbin Public Library, which is located at 215 Roy Kidd Avenue. The program is free and includes meals, door prizes and childcare for younger siblings.

“Prime Time Family Reading helps families bond around the act of reading and talking about books. In each of six weekly sessions, a discussion leader and storyteller lead programs that demonstrate effective reading techniques. The books introduced to children ages 6 to 10 and their parents explore timeless issues of humanity – friendship, trickery, patience, respect, and justice – while helping them understand the dynamics of making life choices. The program is free and includes meals, door prizes, and educational childcare for younger siblings,” Kentucky Humanities wrote in a release.

The storyteller is Chris Campbell and Mary Huntsman is the Prime Time discussion leader.

Kentucky Humanities Executive Director Bill Goodman said he believes Prime Time is among the most important programs Kentucky Humanities brings to the Commonwealth.

“Kentucky Humanities is passionate about promoting literacy and sharing the love of reading with people throughout Kentucky,” Goodman said. “Low reading scores have been one of the many devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kentucky. We hope that families across the Commonwealth will use Prime Time Family Reading as a way to spend time reading together and talking to each other in ways they never have before.”

Prime Time Family Reading has won awards from the Public Library Association and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities created the program in 1995. Its studies showed that children who went through Prime Time increased their reading time by 80 percent and doubled their trips to the library. The program also benefited their parents, who improved their parenting skills and, in 29 percent of the cases studied, their employment status, according to the release.

Kentucky Humanities is a non-profit Kentucky corporation affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. For information about Kentucky Humanities’ programs and services, visit kyhumanities.org. To register for Prime Time Family Reading at the Corbin Public Library call (606) 528-6366 or email technology@corbinkylibrary.org.