At the Berks Country (PA) Animal Shelter, children between between grades 1-8 have taken up reading to the shelter's homeless cats, all part of a reading program called Book Buddies.
The program started around August 2013, when a then-10-year old son of the shelter's coordinator, Kristi Rodriguez, was having trouble reading. She recommended he read to the cats. As Rodriguez told TIME, "The cats aren't going to care if you mess up."
From this sprung up the program. Now participating children can earn rewards for reading often to their feline friends, earning small prizes with every five books they complete.
According to the Berks County Animal Shelter website, the benefits work both ways. "The program will help children improve their reading skills while also helping the shelter animals. Cats find the rhythmic sound of a voice very comforting and soothing."
You'll never seen Mr. Whiskers more comatose than when you read a little Virginia Woolf to him, trust me on that one.
photos: Berks County Animal Shelter
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