CAPE TOWN-Ten-year-old Lotus River bookworm Cassidy Hendricks continues to share her passion for reading with her community.
At her most recent reading workshop, at Fairmount High School, Grassy Park on Wednesday 4 February, World Read Aloud Day (WRAD), she read from Canadian author Yann Martel’s deeply allegorical award-winning 2001 novel Life of Pi (made into an award-winning film by Ang Lee) for the matric students during their school assembly.
WRAD is celebrated annually on the first Wednesday of every February and was founded in 2010 by the non-profit LitWorld to celebrate the power of reading aloud to build community and foster literacy.
Cassidy, who is in Grade 5 at Ferndale Primary School in Ottery, first read Life of Pi in 2024, and counts it among her favourite books.
Her appearance at Fairmount High was her first voluntary reading experience this year, her grandmother Brenda Tommy pointed out.
“She has been assisting her brother, who is in Grade 12, with his reading and we thought it would be appropriate to read to the two English classes at the school.”
Cassidy told Fairmount’s Class of 2026 that this was the fifth time she was celebrating WRAD.
“This is also the first group of matrics I’m reading to, although I read to a group of senior learners three years ago at Fairmount. My passion is reading, which I’ve been doing from the age of 2. I’ve volunteered at libraries, schools and senior homes promoting reading and literacy.”
Last year she took part in the SA Literacy Association’s annual reading competition and reached the final rounds.
In 2023 Cassidy won first prize in the association’s provincial and national annual reading competition, in the category of English First Language Grade 2. She was the only primary-school learner from the Western Cape and competed against learners from other provinces. In 2022 she walked away with second prize in the national reading competition.
She said reading for the matrics felt effortless. “It was easy because the matrics are very respectful and didn’t make a noise, which allowed me to finish reading in my limited time. It was really enjoyable, even though I was bit nervous, but I quickly overcame it. I find this year’s matrics to be good examples for their school.”
Cassidy was also one of the youngest recipients of the Ward 65 Hero Awards, which were held at the Lotus River Sports and Recreation Hall last year.
