Monsoon Literacy Celebration 2025 - day 1 | Events at Fox Tucson Theatre
11
July
10:00 am

Monsoon Literacy Celebration

Weekday Morning
Follow these tracks to some desert literacy!

Just as the monsoon season tunes us into the power and beauty of our desert, midsummer is an excellent time to keep kids connected to books. With desert literacy as our focus—learning to ‘read’ the plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert—join us for this joyful celebration of reading and writing in so many forms!

 

Get ready for:

  • The award-winning animated short movie, “The Gruffalo’s Child”, and other literacy-based shorts on the big screen
  • Sing alongs
  • Dancing fun with mascots
  • And more…

 

Recommended for children aged 4-9, but everyone is welcome! 

The event is free, but please register above.

 

Featured Movie:

 

Schedule:
  • 9 AM:  Doors open
  • 9-10 AM: Informal time in the auditorium:
    • picture books on the big screen and roving interactions with partner organizations
  • 10-11(ish) AM:  short movies, sing-alongs, and fun from the stage

 

Featured Books:

 

By space shuttle astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson and local author Czarina Salido, “First Flight” is a tale of resilience and the power of intergenerational bonds.

 

A monster’s beak, dripping red! The animals of the Sonoran Desert fear for their lives. By local writer Elaine Powers, explore this mystery alongside animals and plants of the Sonoran Desert.

 

Book coverCoyote and his Sonoran Desert friends follow the tracks to start their own animal train!  From the Make Way for Books App and by local author and owner of Mildred and Dildred toy store, Autumn Ruhe.

 

Gruffalo's Child book coverOne wild and windy night the Gruffalo’s child disobeys her father’s warnings and ventures out into the deep dark wood, following animal tracks in the snow… but who will she find?? The best-selling book by the legendary Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

 

book coverA look into the secret lives of the native bees of the Sonoran Desert!  By local author Robin Kropp, from the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.