Dickens Reads

02/18/2026

Whose birthday is it? That's what our Dickens Reads students wanted to know today when they walked in the door and saw cupcakes. The answer -- ! We spent the morning learning about this gifted Ohio-born author and helping to kick off a statewide year-long celebration of all her accomplishments. After reading her biography with their tutors, our kids now know that Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, her name originally was Chloe Wofford, and that she was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Then it was time for cupcakes and free books!

01/14/2026

OK, summer is long gone (and how we miss it!), but we just wanted to share these Signal Cleveland videos highlighting our Reads scholars and their favorite books. Our goal from the beginning has been to help children experience the joy of reading, and these videos show that we are succeeding!

Yes, school is almost out. Yes, it's tim for summer reading. Students from Charles Dickens have some books for you to read

03/31/2025

Our 8th grade boys at Charles Dickens School earned a new title today -- they are now officially the "Guardians" of the school's Little Free Library. They will be in charge of keeping it stocked with books and encouraging younger students to take books home at the end of the day. Today they got to meet special guest Keith G. Sulzer, the retired Cleveland police captain who installed that same library nearly a decade ago. ❤️

05/12/2023

Our Dickens Reads students deserve an end-of-year reward for all that reading progress they've made! So we treated them to a visit to the Immersive Disney exhibition. They had a blast! Thank you to the tutors who chaperoned, to Alexandria Keller for coordinating the field trip, & to Lighthouse Immersive for providing free passes for our kids.

06/22/2022

Janiyah's message to Dickens Reads.

06/13/2022

Here is reporter January Keaton's final summary of what we accomplished during our time at Charles Dickens School in Cleveland. Let's hear it for our volunteers, partners and funders! You helped give each of these children a firm reading foundation, and that is a gift that will remain with them for a lifetime.

Each Charles Dickens Elementary students who attended 3News' after-school tutoring program showed improvement in reading and writing.

06/06/2022

We are missing our Dickens kids! These are the sweet handmade gifts they gave the volunteers on the last day of tutoring. The artworks are made from flower petals and leaves, and the kids wrote "Thank you for helping us grow" on each one. 🌻🌱🌿💐😪

05/31/2022

Thanks January Keaton for this excellent story about two special visitors who came to meet our Dickens Reads students!

Clothilde Ewing and Lynn Gaines read their best-selling children's book "Stella Keeps the Sun Up" to Charles Dickens Elementary students.

05/25/2022

Wishing a happy birthday to the one person who has never missed a session of Dickens Reads -- program coordinator Rhonda Crowder! Miss Rhonda, we appreciate your leadership so much, and all you did for our kids! 🎂
❤Enjoy yourself today and do something special just for you!!