Family Literacy Day is held annually on January 27th to raise awareness across Canada of the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. You can help your child reach their full potential by singing, talking, writing, reading and playing together each day. It’s never too early to start!

The library invites young families to join our Family Literacy Day Celebration with an online circus performance by Femmes du Feu entitled “Tweet Tweet”. TWEET TWEET! is the story of a magical tree and two young birds that discover each other, play and learn to fly in its branches. The piece follows two birds from sunrise to sunset. We watch the birds awaken in their nests on a spring morning, move through the dawn chorus, discover the tree and each other, play and search for food. The birds discover their wings and learn to fly. The world is enchanting, serene and peaceful, reminiscent of a forest. The set was created with as much reused material and as little plastic as possible. TWEET TWEET! is inspired by the urban Toronto environment, but could be any tree anywhere. The show will be available on the Ottawa Public Library YouTube channel from January 27 – 31, 2021.

The organization originally behind this important day, ABC Life Literacy Canada, offer families downloadable resources in French and English with lots of ideas for engaging activities that help families learn and grow together.

The library also offers many resources for family literacy including Tumblebooks, Hoopla and last year, the library also introduced Take home storytimes so that families can recreate the magic of storytime together at home. Learn more about these resources and more by following the links on the library’s parenting page.