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A real horse inside a library
or classroom is always a magical experience.
The horses in Gentle Carousel's
award winning
Reading Is
Magic
program look like the horse characters in loved children's books.
Gentle
Carousel with the help of "Magic" and friends bring real horses
inside classrooms, libraries and at risk youth programs to inspire
young readers.
Gentle Carousel's Reading
Is Magic
program provides books, family reading lists, author book
signings, author signed books and posters (including Newbery Medal
and Honor winners), photography, educational coloring books,
bookmarks, certificates, posters, lesson plan ideas, enrichment
activities and book readings with our horses.
Young children who have rich language and literacy
experiences are less likely to have difficulties learning to read.
Gentle Carousel's Reading Is Magic program encourages children and their parents to
read together, teachers to read to their students and children to read their own books.
Reading Is Magic has a special focus on struggling or at risk readers. Poor readers are
at increased risk for dropping out of school, substance abuse,
delinquency and poverty.
Gentle Carousel horses
visit over 4000 adults and children each year.
Over
1200 children attended the Reading Is Magic summer program
in partnership with the Alachua County Library District in 2009.
Reading Is Magic's
summer program
will expand to six more counties in 2010. Research
shows that children who do not continue reading through the
summer can lose a month or more of progress made during the
school year.
"What’s
better than a tiny horse in your classroom?
I
feel like anyone who meets the horses will never forget it. I really feel like the children will tell their children
about the little horses that came in their classroom. I feel
like it’s that big.
It’s
just so beautiful, so big hearted, such a perfect marriage
of the therapy aspect along with some kind of magical
element that you just can’t really describe."
Diane
Colson
Senior Library Manager,
Youth Services Coordinator for the Alachua County Library
District.
Gentle Carousel's Reading Is Magic received
the 2009 Literacy Award from the Alachua County Literacy
Network (with Terri Hutchinson, Literacy Coordinator of
Alachua County Library District and Gainesville mayor Pegeen
Hanrahan) for Outstanding Contribution To Literacy.
Magic is selected the Most Heroic Pet In
America!
"I
chair the Governor’s Commission On Disabilities and we’re
very interested in this program. We’ll be studying the program this
year and my guess is there will be some recommendations to
the governor and the legislature about at least beginning a
pilot program to enable this program to perhaps move on
state wide. "
Lance
Block
Chairman for the Governor's Commission On Disabilities
"They
make a significant difference in the lives of the people in
this community with their work. And not just this community,
everywhere that they go they have a big impact.
We’re excited to have a partnership with them. "
Ester Tibbs
District III
Administrator, Department of Children and Families
"I
just can’t say enough nice things about what they do in
our community. We’re so thankful that we have them in
our community.
It has been a very tough year so Sun Trust bank, along with
the other banking institutions, has been very cautious
about where they place their money. So when someone
comes and asks for a donation we are certainly
scrutinizing that and making sure that our money is
being used to the best resources possible and this is
one. Reading is Magic... It’s just something that we’re very, very
honored to be a part of.
Stacey Hayes, Sun Trust Bank, VP with Client Advisor and
Private Wealth Management
Gentle
Carousel horses and volunteers in Ocala Style Magazine.
Moonbeam on his way to
school!
Gentle
Carousel's READING IS MAGIC is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit charity.
Your
donations are tax deductible.
There is
something about the outside of a horse that is good for the
inside of a man." ~Winston Churchill
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Magic selected Most Heroic Pet In America. See her
in AARP the Magazine.
What an honor and thrill to have Gentle Carousel's
Sundance as a riveting character in JASON AND ELIHU.-Shelley
Fraser Mickle
; "Life in the Galloping Lane, O'Connor")
