The Reading Promise

When Alice was nine years old, she and her father - a beloved school librarian - made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. Upon reaching their goal, they celebrated over pancakes, but it was clear that neither wanted to let go of what had become their reading ritual. They decided to continue what became known as The Streak for as long as they possibly could.

From L. Frank Baum to Dickens to J.K. Rowling to Shakespeare, Alice's father read to her every night without fail until the day she entered college, a remarkable eight years later. In this deeply affecting memoir, Alice tells the story of her relationship with the extraordinary man who raised her - from his steadying hand on the back of her wobbly bike to his one-man crusade to keep reading in schools - the words they shared and the spaces in between. Alice poignantly illustrates the unbreakable parent-child bond, the books they treasured, and the life lessons learned along the way.

“At a time when books often seem under attack, threatened with redundancy by the more aggresive advocates of new media, it is good to read so spirited and charming a paean in praise of the pleasures of reading as The Reading Promise. - Bookseller (UK), from 'We Love This Book'My favourite . . . she writes beautifully of an unbreakable parent-child bond and the life lessons learnt from literature along the way. . . . My Father's Day gift of the month. - The Bookseller Alice Ozma has given us the gift of a remarkable love story. In her love of books, and of her father, we see the most meaningful promises we might make to our own parents, our own children, and to ourselves. - Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor of The Last Lecture Tender, funny, and deeply readable, THE READING PROMISE tells the story of how a simple ritual became a treasured father-daughter tradition. Promise yourself to revisit what matters . . . promise you'll pick up this tribute to the ways in which books change lives. - Erin Blakemore, author of The Heroine's Bookshelf A testament to the power of books and reading, especially reading together, the book details the comfort, excitement, terror and inspiration stories can provide. Part love letter to a devoted parent, part memoir of a sensitive, intelligent girl, part passionate plea for readers to preserve traditions of reading aloud and using libraries, this is a book to curl up with and sink into. - Who Weekly THE READING PROMISE is a powerful testament to the difference a parent's devotion and the act of reading can make in a child's life. A rare and triumphant story. - Chris Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happyness Clearly fabulous for libraries everywhere. . . . My pick. - Library Journal This is about so much more than books and reading. It's about single-parenthood and childhood, about raising a loving, witty, articulate kid, and all of it accomplished without anyone turning into the Alpha-Parent/Tiger-Dad. - Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook”

At a time when books often seem under attack, threatened with redundancy by the more aggresive advocates of new media, it is good to read so spirited and charming a paean in praise of the pleasures of reading as The Reading Promise. - Bookseller (UK), from 'We Love This Book'

My favourite . . . she writes beautifully of an unbreakable parent-child bond and the life lessons learnt from literature along the way. . . . My Father's Day gift of the month. - The Bookseller

Alice Ozma has given us the gift of a remarkable love story. In her love of books, and of her father, we see the most meaningful promises we might make to our own parents, our own children, and to ourselves. - Jeffrey Zaslow, coauthor of The Last Lecture

Tender, funny, and deeply readable, THE READING PROMISE tells the story of how a simple ritual became a treasured father-daughter tradition. Promise yourself to revisit what matters . . . promise you'll pick up this tribute to the ways in which books change lives. - Erin Blakemore, author of The Heroine's Bookshelf

A testament to the power of books and reading, especially reading together, the book details the comfort, excitement, terror and inspiration stories can provide. Part love letter to a devoted parent, part memoir of a sensitive, intelligent girl, part passionate plea for readers to preserve traditions of reading aloud and using libraries, this is a book to curl up with and sink into. - Who Weekly

THE READING PROMISE is a powerful testament to the difference a parent's devotion and the act of reading can make in a child's life. A rare and triumphant story. - Chris Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Pursuit of Happyness

Clearly fabulous for libraries everywhere. . . . My pick. - Library Journal

This is about so much more than books and reading. It's about single-parenthood and childhood, about raising a loving, witty, articulate kid, and all of it accomplished without anyone turning into the Alpha-Parent/Tiger-Dad. - Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook

Alice Ozma was named for Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. She graduated from college and is finishing graduate school. She was accepted into the master's program for liberal arts at the University of Pennsylvania on the strength of her essay about Reading with My Father - The Streak.

When Alice was nine years old, she and her father - a beloved school librarian - made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. Upon reaching their goal, they celebrated over pancakes, but it was clear that neither wanted to let go of what had become their reading ritual. They decided to continue what became known as The Streak for as long as they possibly could.From L. Frank Baum to Dickens to J.K. Rowling to Shakespeare, Alice's father read to her every night without fail until the day she entered college, a remarkable eight years later. In this deeply affecting memoir, Alice tells the story of her relationship with the extraordinary man who raised her - from his steadying hand on the back of her wobbly bike to his one-man crusade to keep reading in schools - the words they shared and the spaces in between. Alice poignantly illustrates the unbreakable parent-child bond, the books they treasured, and the life lessons learned along the way.

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