Hundreds of youngsters and their families from across San Diego are counting the days until the annual Children’s Book Party on April 27 at Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park.
The pavilion will be filled with books — thousands of them.
The spark for the book party came from a man who did not discover his love for reading until later in life, but wanted children to have the chance to develop a love for reading early on.
It all started 40 years ago in the backyard of Roosevelt Brown and his family in Emerald Hills. The family set up tables for neighborhood kids to come and choose some books to take home. The family served apple juice and cookies.
Brown started the book party so kids would be inspired to read. Brown probably would have loved reading when he was a kid, but he had a speech impediment. When he had to read aloud in class, he stuttered. So reading became a burden instead of a joy. “I was scared of being called on and I just tried to survive in school,” said Brown, 81, who attended Logan Elementary School, Memorial Junior High School and San Diego High School. After he graduated from Associated Barber School, he owned a barbershop and a record shop. He got a job at Solar Turbines when he was in his early 30s and worked his way up from the maintenance department to doing inspections.