Our First Worldreader Author Ambassador Tad Hills Visits Schools in Africa
New York, NY — Penguin Random House partnered with Worldreader to launch an Author Ambassador program that took Schwartz & Wade author Tad Hills to Africa to visit schools in Ghana and Kenya this past May. With his books and hundreds of other children’s titles donated by Penguin Random House, Worldreader’s largest publishing partner, Tad read, taught and interacted with students in Worldreader’s e-reader program. Our e-book donation crossed all genres, reading levels and age groups, enabling the program to reach children in Worldreader-affiliated schools as well as adults in libraries.
Tad talks about his Author Ambassador experiences in his first blog post, The Power of Reading to Kids: “I am not a researcher, scientist, academic or someone who has gathered empirical evidence about the value of reading to children, but I’ve seen first-hand how a book or story can introduce children to a world they’ve never seen, a concept that has never occurred to them, or a life they haven’t lived. I’ve seen books bring people together and as I have visited classrooms in the United States and throughout the world, most recently in Ghana and Kenya with Worldreader, I’m always amazed at how stories can connect people.”
Tad’s 5-day Author Ambassador journey featured visits to the Kibera School for Girls (Kibera, Kenya), St. Mary’s Boarding School (Narok, Kenya), Kade School (Accra, Ghana) and Dordiak Educational Complex (Accra, Ghana). The trip was captured documentary-style and is presented in a Worldreader blog post today and can be viewed on the Penguin Random House YouTube channel.
Penguin Random House and Worldreader proudly partner to help create a world
where everyone is a reader. Visit www.worldreader.org and www.penguinrandomhouse.com to learn more about how we are committed to creating the next generation of readers around the world.
About Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade book publisher, is dedicated to its mission of nourishing a universal passion for reading by connecting authors and their writing with readers everywhere. The company, which employs more than 10,000 people globally, was formed on July 1, 2013, by Bertelsmann and Pearson, who own 53 percent and 47 percent, respectively. With nearly 250 independent imprints and brands on five continents, Penguin Random House comprises adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital English- and Spanish-language trade book publishing businesses in more than 20 countries worldwide. With over 15,000 new titles, and close to 800 million print, audio and eBooks sold annually, Penguin Random House’s publishing lists include more than 60 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.
