Author Mem Fox is a proponent of early literacy.

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MYSTERY SHOPPERS

Children's book author Mem Fox was working as a drama professor when her 4-year-old daughter inadvertently inspired her to embark on a new career path.

Fox was amazed that her young daughter was able to read just shortly after entering preschool, and when Fox asked how that could be, her daughter's teacher answered matter-of-factly that it was because Fox had read aloud to her child.

It was a life-changing revelation for Fox, now the author of more than 30 children's books and a passionate literacy advocate.

The Australian author will visit Tucson next month to speak about the importance of early literacy and reading to young children at Tucson's first Creating a Community of Readers Starting at Birth literacy summit, hosted by the Pima County Public Library.

"Reading aloud to children between birth and age 5, daily, changes their lives forever," Fox said via telephone from her home in Adelaide, Australia. "It changes their lives educationally, it changes their lives mentally, it changes their lives in terms of language development. Reading aloud to children before they go to school is the greatest foundation that you can give them."

The free March 5 literacy summit at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, 3800 E. River Road, will feature six workshops, a luncheon panel discussion, literacy fair and two presentations by keynote speaker Fox, said Gina Macaluso, coordinator of youth services for the Pima County Public Library.

Paid for by a grant from the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records agency, the event is designed to bring community awareness to the importance of preparing children, from birth to age 5, to learn to read by exposing them to books.

"If children don't have experience with books and reading, they arrive in kindergarten and first grade already behind," said Mary Jan Bancroft, executive director of the local non-profit organization Make Way for Books and one of the summit's presenters.

"Children who are read to know more words, just because they're exposed to more words," Macaluso said. "Children who are exposed to books know how to hold a book, and even something as simple as handling a book is so important to a child."

While primarily focused on reading and youths, the summit will also offer some information on adult literacy.

Betty Stauffer, executive director of the Literacy Volunteers of Tucson, will speak about literacy and economics, focusing specifically on the difficulties adults who are unable to read often face in the job market.

"We can't leave off the adult-education piece," Stauffer said. "It's not just a kids' issue, and if mom doesn't read, I guarantee her kid's not going to be able to read."

The event is geared toward business leaders, educators, parents and anyone else who wants to learn how to help promote literacy in the community, Macaluso said.

Representatives from the University of Arizona, the local business community and local literacy organizations will give presentations on various topics — such as literacy's relationship to health and its economic impact — throughout the event, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Fox will give a morning address for summit attendees at 10 a.m. and a public evening address at 6:30 p.m.

Fox's picture books for children are popular in the United States, as well as in Australia, and include titles such as "Koala Lou," "Hunwick's Egg" and "Time for Bed," which made Oprah Winfrey's list of the 20 best children's books of all time.

Fox, 62, said her trip to Tucson will mark her 101st visit to the United States, where she often advocates for early literacy. In addition to her picture books, Fox wrote the adult book "Reading Magic," which focuses on the importance of reading aloud to young children.

"If we don't do it, it costs billions to repair the damage — socially, educationally, criminally," Fox said. "The earlier we start to get kids loving books, the better."