Posted on October 23, 2015 at 6:10 pm by Nicole Acker
On Thursday, Oct. 22, the Menlo Park Library joined thousands of other libraries and schools in Read for the Record®, which is a global campaign to garner public support for high quality early learning. Read for the Record® mobilizes millions of children and adults to take part in the world’s largest shared reading experience. This year they read "Not Norman: A Goldfish Story" by Kelly Bennett and planned to break the world reading record which was set in 2013 when 2,462,860 children and adults read "Otis" by Loren Long. Menlo Park read Not Norman at six different storytimes on Thursday, and each family took home a copy of the book for more reading pleasure. The Read for the Record® campaign focuses on closing the “word gap," a gap that often exists because many children from low income families hear up to 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers by the time they enter kindergarten. Read for the Record® highlights the importance of building the language and literacy skills which are essential for children to succeed in school and in life. This is the 10th year of organized reading. Read for the Record® is a campaign organized by Jumpstart, a national early education organization.
