Mutt-i-grees Launches Its First Summer Reading Program
This summer, North Shore Animal League America’s education program, The Mutt-i-grees Curriculum, launched its first Summer Reading Program, welcoming students of all ages to the shelter for a unique experience reading alongside adoptable animals. The program has been a tremendous success, bringing together literacy, compassion, and the human-animal bond as young readers shared stories with animals in need.
Throughout the summer, children, teens, and families have visited the shelter to spend time reading aloud to adoptable dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens. While the experience provides participants with the chance to practice their reading skills in a supportive, judgment-free environment, it also creates something even more meaningful: genuine connections between people and animals.
Reading to shelter animals offers unique benefits for both the reader and the listener. For readers, the experience helps build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and make reading aloud feel more enjoyable and less intimidating. Animals provide a calm and accepting audience, allowing children to focus on sharing a story while developing important communication skills. For the animals, these quiet moments of companionship provide enrichment and positive human interaction, helping them feel more comfortable while they wait for their forever families.
At its heart, the Mutt-i-grees Summer Reading Program reflects the mission of Mutt-i-grees and the power of the human-animal bond to inspire learning, empathy, and compassion. Each reading session encouraged participants to slow down, connect with an animal in need, and discover how small acts of kindness can create a meaningful impact. Through these interactions, students also strengthened important social-emotional skills, including empathy, patience, and responsible decision-making.
The community’s enthusiasm for this new program has been truly inspiring. All remaining reading sessions for this summer have already been fully booked, demonstrating the incredible interest from families and young readers who want to be part of this special experience.
As we celebrate the success of our first Mutt-i-grees Summer Reading Program, we look forward to continuing to grow this initiative and expanding it in the years ahead. We are excited to welcome even more readers and create additional opportunities to build connections, encourage literacy, and strengthen the bond between people and animals—one story at a time.