From Grandview to Sunnyside, Yakima to Toppenish, you’ll see the banners: “READING IS AN ADVENTURE / LEER IS UNA AVENTURA”.

They’re on the fences at Catholic Charities Housing, displayed at Yakima Neighborhood Health Services, and seen throughout the Granger and West Valley school districts.

They’re promoting Yakima Valley Partners in Education’s (YVPE) continued initiative to improve educational outcomes for all youth from “cradle to career.”

What catches the eye, especially if you’re five or six years old, is the cute, gleeful-looking cartoon hamster springing into the air next to the words. She’s clearly delighted with the whole idea.

Named “Houdini,” this little critter has become the YVPE’s learning ambassador — and kids around the Valley know her for promoting the enjoyment and benefits of reading.

This year, she’s helping promote the partnership’s newest product: a board game and parent guidebook focused on making reading even more of an adventure.

In the game, appropriately titled “Reading Is An Adventure,” young readers use colorful stickers to traverse the gameboard. The board features cartoon drawings of Houdini’s hamster wheel, her favorite foods — sunflower seeds and carrots — and a pathway with squares to be advanced for every 20 minutes a day a child reads.

The game’s parent guide is “designed to help you and your child get the most out of reading together,” explains the introduction. “[It] gives you the tools to lead your child through skill- building exercises that increase fluency and comprehension, expand vocabulary, and help them learn how to sound out words phonically.”

Parents and their children both benefit: Adults get a few tips on ways to help their kids read more fluidly and with greater comprehension, and young readers gain confidence in reading.

Its development comes out of a dedicated partnership between YVPE and Yakima Valley Libraries, whose community resource professionals are reading challenge experts.

Printed in the summer, the game was introduced beginning in August in Sunnyside, Granger, and Mabton, with planned distribution later expanding to the lower Yakima Valley, then the upper Valley.

ASSOCIATING READING WITH FUN

Houdini is seen on banners and signage; in walking/visiting mascot form at schools and community buildings; and, most ubiquitously, in the book written about her — Houdini Was.

Written and published 15 years ago by White Bluff Elementary teacher Christan Connors and her second-grade students as a tribute to their classroom pet, the book has captivated thousands of children.

Two years ago, Connors’s parents, Ken and Sharon Smith, bought the publishing rights from Scholastic so they could have the book reproduced with Spanish added to the English text. They printed 500 copies, distributing them to schools and other organizations in the Yakima Valley.

Bilingual copies of Houdini Was are in libraries, schools, health centers, and other community access points throughout the Valley.

In addition to the bilingual version of the game and the parent guide — painstakingly translated into Spanish by Yakima Valley Library Services Director Francisco Garcia Ortiz, Ph.D., and Lorena Legorreta, Heritage’s Food Security Community Liaison, YVPE organizers also hope to have the Reading Is An Adventure parent guide printed in Ichishkíin.

Just as Houdini Was books have received wide local distribution, 10,000 copies of the game and parent guide are being distributed this fall via many of the same partnering organizations, including Yakima Valley Libraries, community centers, financial institutions, and schools.

LITERACY STRATEGY FOCUSES ON COMMUNITY

As YVPE literacy efforts continue, the group has been implementing a community-based approach, said Suzy Diaz, Heritage’s Collective Impact Director for YVPE. That means looking more closely at how reading can be promoted within the community to support what is already being taught in schools.

To make that community focus happen, YVPE organizers work with those community- serving organizations that want to make books available to patrons via book kiosks. Five kiosks throughout the Valley hold as many as 100 books each; some have copies of Houdini Was, but mostly they’re books of all types, intended for young readers aged five to 12, all donated by literacy partners such as Save the Children. The kiosks are refilled regularly to meet patronage needs.

YVPE extends a portion of the funding it’s received, including that from major financial supporter The Ballmer Group, to Yakima Valley Libraries, whose role in supporting YVPE initiatives has grown.

“As reading promotion experts, Yakima Valley Libraries’ involvement has been key,” Diaz said.

READING CHALLENGES AND APP HELP FAMILIES TRACK

Yakima Valley Libraries’ focused reading challenges continue to increase reading participation among young children in the Valley. This summer’s challenge followed on the heels of what was a successful reading challenge over the winter holidays, said Sully Gama, Community Engagement and Impact Officer with Yakima Valley Libraries.

Children’s reading challenge progress is tracked via an app called “Beanstack,” which allows reading experts to gauge the number of active readers and total minutes logged.

There were 225 total active readers and almost 100,000 total minutes logged in the winter challenge, according to Gama. The highest participation was with early elementary students, which is the most crucial and targeted group for effective literacy growth.

GAMIFYING THE READING PROCESS

From the winter challenge’s results, YVPE and YVL organizers determined — and dreamed about — what children’s reading focus would come next. The concept of something “really interactive” kept coming up.

“David kept saying, ‘Let’s gamify this,’ Diaz said, referring to David Wise, vice president of Advancement and Marketing at Heritage. “He knew if we could figure out how to make this a game that kids and adults could play together, we’d really get some energy and engagement going.”

Diaz reached out to Xu Fang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor for the Teacher Preparation Program in Heritage’s College of Education. Diaz asked her, “If we could develop a parent guide to support healthy reading habits, what would that look like?”

“What’s typical and familiar to school-based communities is reading 20 minutes a day for maybe 30 days, after which students submit some kind of verification, and receive some kind of reward,” Diaz said. “That’s what we decided to do.”

For the game’s parent handbook, Fang developed a sort of “academic toolkit” consisting of the types of practices that have been proven to work best in encouraging young readers.

“The game makes forming healthy and productive habits really doable,” Diaz said.

ENHANCING PARENTS’ INFLUENCE

The power of reading, a fuzzy little character that touches hearts and the imagination, and now “gamifying” reading takes commitment, Diaz said.

“It does take a village, and that’s what YVPE really is. It’s the people who believe and keep working at this. Along with YVPE’s many member organizations and the significant support from individuals, the perspective and impact of Yakima Valley Libraries have been truly meaningful.

“We all want kids to be engaged, and we all want parents to feel confident about their roles, which makes children more likely to feel confident and able to enjoy reading.

“We want them to spend quality time together, and we’re giving them more and more ways to do that.

“It’s an opportunity for parents and students to be engaged and involved in reading together in a way that’s fun and friendly,” Diaz said. “An enhanced parent-child experience enhances a child’s reading experience.

“And it’s parents who ultimately have the most influence on their young children.”