Drop Everything and Read Day, affectionately known as D.E.A.R. Day, was established in 2006 on beloved American author Beverly Cleary’s 90th birthday. The concept is simple: dedicate at least thirty minutes to reading quietly with no interruptions. Schools around the world have implemented D.E.A.R. Day into their curriculum, giving students a dedicated reading period on April 12, but what about adults? Where’s our dedicated reading time?
April 12 falls on a Wednesday this year. Your day may be filled with work, household chores, shuttling family members to activities, running errands, and more tasks. You may think, “I can’t drop everything and read!”
Trust me, I feel you. That’s why I’ve created this list of clever ways to sneak reading time into your busy day.
- Listen to an audiobook on your commute or while doing household chores. (I highly recommend audiobooks while washing dishes, but not while vacuuming, for obvious reasons.)
- Out of the house? Like Rory Gilmore, never leave home without a book. Stuck in a doctor’s waiting room? It’s the perfect time to read! Bored while waiting on your kids to get out of sports practice? Now you can read! That half an hour stuck in the school pickup line was basically made for reading.
- Are you into exercising? Read on the treadmill.
- Instead of mindless doom scrolling, read at your desk during lunch break. (Just try to keep food crumbs out of your library books!)
- Read eBooks whenever you’d normally be playing on your phone. (Which is probably a lot, if you’re anything like me…)
- Are you a TV show binge-watcher? Skip one episode of tonight’s binge show and read instead. Your brain and imagination will thank you.
Don’t have a book on hand? The library has your back. On Drop Everything and Read Day, it’s never been a better day to download the Libby app, opens a new window and have access to thousands of eBooks, Audiobooks, and magazines! Happy reading!
What’s available on Libby:
- eBooks - 145,000+ titles
- eAudiobooks - 52,000+ titles
- Magazines - 3,900+ titles
- World Language Materials - 5,000+ titles
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