Today, Mayor Sly James is supporting the nationwide efforts of Jumpstart and the Pearson Foundation to set a new world record for the largest shared reading experience. This effort is part of an annual early education awareness campaign that focuses national attention on the importance of reading.
Read for the Record is the annual event involving millions of individuals who come together to celebrate literacy by breaking the world record for reading the same book on the same day. Adults and children across the United States will read the official campaign book, Penguin’s Otis, by New York Times bestselling author Loren Long, with many reading the free digital version available at We Give Books.
“The biggest legacy adults can leave for young people is a passion for learning and that begins with a love for reading,” said Mayor Sly James. “Literacy is a building block for future success. Read to a child, read with a child, and have a child read to you every day.”
Mayor James partnered specifically with kindergarteners at Crossroads Academy for this year’s Read for the Record event. “Crossroads Academy is honored to host Mayor James and the Read for the Record Campaign,” said Dean Johnson, the school’s executive director. “We applaud the Mayor’s commitment to raising the bar for education and literacy in Kansas City.”
For more information about Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, visit www.wegivebooks.org/
