Newspapers with a combined circulation of over four million have already made plans for the story, which is a tale for 9- to 12-year olds about a group of insects who must learn to cooperate to create a newspaper (The Fly on the Wall Journal) to spread the news in City Park.
However, behind the story is a serious objective - to help teachers and parents show children that reading and learning are fun. The companion lesson plan includes reading comprehension questions, writing exercises, science facts and exercises that teach children about newspaper journalism, and offer ways to learn about the local newspaper.
Novels by Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo and Leo Tolstoy began as serials in newspapers and today serialised stories are finding an important new audience and are being used to encourage family reading.
Some of the world's leading cartoonists, including Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, have donated cartoons celebrating reading for newspapers to print today, also provided by WAN-IFRA.
International Literacy Day was established in 1965 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and is celebrated around the world each year on September 8. One in five adults over the age of 15 worldwide is unable to read, according to UNESCO.
The cartoons, the story and accompanying activities may be found at www.wan-press.org/nie/articles.php?id=1469.
