EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Reading is the gateway to learning. Yet too many children are growing up without the chance to develop the foundational learning skills they need. 

One literacy festival hopes to increase awareness of the importance of literacy, reading loss in children and help parents understand the importance of reading to their children daily.

What You Need To Know

  • The World Literacy Foundation announced Sunday, on International Literacy Day, an ambitious goal to bridge the literacy gap for 200,000 people across 10 countries by 2025, with a particular focus on underserved communities in the United States

  • The festival is a reboot of the annual celebration that took place from 2005 to 2015 led by Mrs. Geneva Hayden

  • The continued purpose of this event is to increase awareness of the importance of literacy, counteract the summer reading loss in children, and help parents understand the importance of reading to their children daily

Sometimes we learn from them, other times they take us on an adventure.

“My book is about a superhero named Braille Boy and he is going to stop a Braille Alien from doing something bad,” author Zuzu Sampson said.

But for writers like Sampson, his work seems to be doing both.

Sampson has written books like "Braille Boy" - a story of a young boy with blindness who fights off "Braille Alien," a villain who seeks to confuse braille readers. And although Braille Boy comes across as the role model for readers, the true inspiration is the writer himself.

“Just to hear his story and the things that he's gone through and that in spite of those things, he is an author,” retired Syracuse City School District employee Antoinette Singleton said. “He's an accomplished author. It was just good to see that. Kids know that the sky's the limit, that in spite of the things that you may go through, in spite of the things you may experience, you can still do these things, you know, these things are still within your reach.”

Sampson is among several other educators, writers, illustrators and book lovers coming together for the event Light a Candle for Literacy.

“This annual festival is a highlight where we bring in authors and illustrators and lots of local entertainment,” Light a Candle for Literacy committee member and illustrator Susan Keeter said. “You can read about places you may never have a chance to go to, but you learn about the world. You learn about all the fabulous people that have ever lived.”

They are celebrating the power of reading and those who paved the way for the right to read. 

For over 30 years, Geneva Hayden, founder of Light a Candle for Literacy, has worked with children and families on the southside of Syracuse .

It's igniting inspiration to read for future generations. 

“When kids are excited about learning, excited about reading, it can take them anywhere,” Singleton said. “It offers a great opportunity.”