World of Reading is an annual event that is hosted every April in Barnett Family Park, located in Downtown Lakeland. What started more than fourteen years ago as a small-town family event has quickly grown into one of the League’s largest community events – drawing thousands of families to Downtown Lakeland every year.

The goal of World of Reading is to encourage imaginative play and creation, as well as put books in the hands of the children in our community – all for free. Tents are set up throughout Barnett Family Park. Each tent features a craft for children to create and take home with them. Once each child has completed a tent activity and received a stamp on their “passport” throughout the event, they are able to select a book (first come first serve) from the Spotlight Book Tent. Within this tent, children can select their favorite book of the four tents and then also will be able to select an AR book from the Junior League book area to take home for free.

In addition to the activities and spotlight tent book giveaways, two featured authors will be autographing and facilitating meet and greets at the event. David Ousley, author of Diligent Derek, and Amanda Green, author of The Adventures of Jackson – Jackson’s Cucumbers, will be signing books and giving away free copies of their books to the first 700 participants! They will also each be reading from their books twice during the event.

“Where will reading take you?” is the continued theme and the spotlight book tents will be focused on the setting or topic of the books. The tents will endeavor to make their featured story come alive. For more information on this year’s event, check out our Events Calendar.

Contact the World of Reading Committee if you have any questions.

This program is funded in part by a grant from Florida’s Natural Growers Foundation, Inc. of Lake Wales, Florida.

Thank you to our sponsors…