Tomorrow, October 8 is Jumpstart's Read for the Record day. For the past 3 years, Jumpstart has attempted to, and succeeded to break the world record for the most people reading the same book on the same day. Each year a new book is picked and this year it is Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. This has become a pretty huge event. The Today Show is a big promoter of the day, as is a whole mess of celebrities. Yesterday the House of Representatives passed a resoulution to make tomorrow Read for the Record day. Eric Carle, the president of Jumpstart and people from Jumpstart's corporate sponsors rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange today. This is all big-time stuff in my opinion.
But with all the celebrity endorsements, huge events and general glitz of this day, the message speaks above it all. There is a crisis in this country around early childhood education. Children from low-income families are more likely to fall behind in school than their peers. Of 50 children having trouble learning to read in kindergarten, 44 of them will still be having trouble in third grade (www.jumpstart.org). This campaign raises awareness of this crisis and urges Americans to take the time to read with children in their early years and throughout their lives. All the money raised through this event goes directly to buying books for children that may not own any books at all. It also gets the word out about Jumpstart and what our Corps members do in preschool classrooms all year long.
I know this sounds like a shameless plug, but Jumpstart is something that I really believe in, and tomorrow's events are going to be good fun for everyone who participates. If you want more info about Jumpstart and Jumpstart's Read for the Record you can go to www.jumpstart.org and www.readfortherecord.org.
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