Lee Pesky Learning Center (Boise - Every child ready to read: literacy tips for parents

Every Child Ready to Read is a little gem. It will help parents prepare, support, guide, and enjoy reading with their children. Nothing could be a better gift to any new family.

Susan Straub , director, Read to Me program

Lee Pesky would have been so proud of the work of the Lee Pesky Center and even more proud of the book they have written Every Child Ready to Read. This book will help all parents. Having a child with a learning disability I know the importance of early stimulation of a child's mind. I personally would have loved to have had this book twenty years ago!

Anne Ford, author of Laughing Allegra, and chairman emeritus, National Center for Learning Disabilities

Every Child Ready to Read is a wonderful guide for parents of young children, chock full of helpful advice that's just right for getting a child started on a lifetime of reading.

Sally E. Shaywitz, M.D., professor of pediatrics, codirector, Yale Center for the Study of Learning and Attention

This is a clear, practical guide to raising young readers, full of ideas that any parent can apply. It goes well beyond the usual sound advice (read to your child) by highlighting the importance of oral language, music, and creative play

Noel Gnther, WETA

Because learning to read was difficult for me as a dyslexic child, I appreciate more than most the value and joy of reading. From now on, Every Child Ready to Read will be the baby present I give. The Lee Pesky Learning Center has created a valuable resource for parents. Teaching our children to read, especially when they face obstacles, is one of the most important gifts we can give them.

Governor Gaston Caperton, former governor of West Virginia and president of The College Board

Do not underestimate the value of this book for parents and care-givers alike. We only wish it had been available twenty-plus years ago for our children's benefit. The Lee Pesky Learning Center, its founders, its directors and the legacy it represents and perpetuates is to be commended and celebrated. Thank you for your sincere love of learning, literacy and little ones.

Governor Dirk Kempthorne and First Lady Patricia Kempthorne of Idaho

Every Child Ready to Read can make a real difference in the lives of children and their parents.

Paul Firstenberg, former chief operating officer, Sesame Street

Children love stories. As adults, some of our most cherished memories are of being read to as a child and of carrying on this legacy as we read to our own child. Every Child Ready to Read is the outcome of a storyof the Alan and Wendy Pesky family and their beloved son Lee. And so we decided to begin this book with the once-upon-a-time of how this book came to be. This is a true story with very real people just like you and me.

Once upon a time, really quite a long time ago, there was a dark-haired, laughing little boy named Lee Pesky. He had a father, Alan, a mother, Wendy, an older sister, Heidi, and a younger brother, Greg. They lived in Connecticut. Often they traveled to Idaho, where they skied, rafted on the rivers, and went camping. Lee really liked Sun Valley.

Lee was very smart; however, reading and writing were a mystery. School was very difficult for Lee, and he did not like it. He struggled to read and write. It was so hard! Lee felt scared and mad. Lee had a very good brain, but it worked differently.

When Lee was growing up in the 1970s we did not know much about learning differently or learning disabilities. The Pesky family was worried. They wanted to find out as much as they could to help Lee love reading and learning as much as he loved to hike and camp. They searched and searched for help.

Finally they found a neurologist who helped Lee and his family understand how Lee's brain worked. Lee was able to get the help he needed to read, learn, and enjoy school. As Lee got ready to enter college, he worked with Dr. Sally Shaywitz on issues relating to his learning problems so that he could do his best in college.

When Lee graduated from college, he returned to Idaho and started a bagel business in Ketchum. It was a funny little store, and Lee named it Buckin Bagels. The business grew, and he opened another store in Boise. Everyone loved Lee's bagels. Buckin Bagels was a great success. Lee planned to open several other stores around the state.

Lee was still very young when he became ill and died. The Pesky family wanted to create something in Lee's namea gift that would keep Lee's memory and spirit alive. They decided to found the Lee Pesky Learning Center in Boise, Idaho, in 1997.

The center works with students of all ages who struggle with learning disabilities. Thanks to neuroscientists such as Dr. Sally Shaywitz and Dr. Bennett there is a lot of information now about how our brains develop and learn. We know that babies come into the world learning from every experience they have. We have learned that brains are learning and growing from the moment of birth. We know that talking and reading to young children help them get ready to learn to read when they go to kindergarten.

And we know that there are all kinds of minds, as Mel Levine has stated. We know how to help all kinds of minds learn to read, write, and do math. Since the center opened, we have worked with hundreds of students. Lee's mother, Wendy, says, Every time a student leaves the center, I feel a little bit of Lee goes with them.

The center is located in Boise, Idaho, because Lee loved Idaho. Many different people work at the center. We have psychologists who do assessments to identify how a student learns. We have educational specialists who work with center students. We have a staff who designs curriculum and training programs for schools. And we work with many foundations that are interested in education and learning disabilities.

One of these foundations, the Dumke Foundation, gave the center funding to develop early literacy materials. Early literacy means understanding that reading and talking with infants and preschoolers can help them be ready to read. Reading this story about Lee Pesky helps you get ready to go to school. We are learning about how to hold a book. We are learning about words and sentences. We are learning that words have letters. So many things we are learning. There are many games, activities, and other fun things that parents, grandparents, babysitters, and preschool teachers can do to help youyes, you get ready to read.

All the staff of the Lee Pesky Learning Center worked together to create Every Child Ready to Read and Kathleen Odean, author of Great Books for Babies and Toddlers prepared the booklists. The book was first printed as Literacy Tips for Parents for the Beginnings (Federal Early Literacy Summit for the Northwest Region). Mrs. Laura Bush and the many researchers who came to the meeting liked the book and wanted as many parents as possible to have it. Because being ready to read is the most important thing you can do to be ready for school. Now Literacy Tips for Parents will go to bookstores all across the country as