They read. Librarians read to gaggles of students during story time. Parents read to their offspring before bed. Nannies read to their pint-size charges. From San Jose, Calif., to San Jose, Costa Rica, children paged through the same book. In doing so, they broke the shared reading world record.
On Thursday, that record could be smashed again. Eleven of the Bay Area’s library systems are teaming up for the first time for the 10th annual Read for the Record day. The global campaign is headed by Jumpstart, a national early education organization, and was started in 2006. Back then, 290,000 people participated in the reading day.
“We didn’t start with much,” said Jumpstart spokeswoman Carolyn Swanhall. “We have far exceeded that record to date. It’s very easy to participate. All we ask is that people register on our website and indicate where they were and how many people they read with.”
Bridging the word gap
The aim of Read for the Record Day is to push literacy and bridge the word gap, which affects the reading level of disadvantaged children. On average, children who grow up in low-income families hear about 30 million fewer words by adulthood than more advantaged kids. Reading helps bridge that gap, Swanhall said.“That statistic, 30 million words, is a staggering number in the long term,” she said. “It causes a huge achievement gap. We want to focus on building children’s language and early literacy by combining high-quality books in a situation where reading is fun.”
This year’s book, “Not Norman” by Kelly Bennett, has 580 different words and a reading guide. Adults are encouraged to discuss the book with children after reading it.
So far this year, more than 1 million people have pledged online to read the tale, and organizers are shooting to break the record of 2.4 million readers after a dip last year. The story follows a young boy after he receives a goldfish for his birthday. Though he considers trading in his scaly pet for a furry one, he ultimately learns to love the fish. It’s a quick and witty read for adults and children alike.
On Thursday, libraries around the Bay Area will host read-aloud sessions, craft projects and giveaways. Locations include 11 city and county library systems in San Mateo, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Jose, Burlingame, San Bruno, Daly City, Menlo Park, San Mateo, Redwood City and South San Francisco.
A digital download of “Not Norman” will also be available Thursday to read online for free on Jumpstart’s website.
“Everyone is reading,” said Cristina Mitra, San Francisco Public Library children’s librarian. “It’s a story-time-type experience where we can promote a love of reading and expose children to hearing different words. And it’s pretty amazing we can get all of the libraries together for it.”
Taking a team approach to encourage early childhood literacy helps form a community, said Luis Herrera, San Francisco’s city librarian.
“This annual reading marathon allows us to engage our entire community to tackle the problem of low literacy,” Herrera said. “Together we can make a difference in so many lives.”
Useful for children, parents
At the same time, it also promotes the idea that reading can be fun. It’s a difficult hobby for children to embrace, especially those growing up in an environment saturated with technology and meticulously planned schedules. But when you read together, it makes a difference, said Shelly Hausman, spokeswoman for the San Mateo County Library.“The idea that kids can all be reading together at the same time to break a world record is so fun,” Hausman said. “Any time we can promote early literacy is a positive thing. And any time words are spoken out loud, it benefits young children. This is an opportunity for kids to spend with a parent or caregiver building a positive relationship.”
©2015 the San Francisco Chronicle Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
