Join Readers Around The World And Loren Long's OTIS For Jumpstart's "Read For the Record" Day On October 3rd!

One of our favorite days for the last seven years has been Read for the Record sponsored by Jumpstart and the Pearson Foundation. 

On this day we pledge to read the official Read for the Record book at Van Meter while others are reading the same book around the world.  We read within our school and have connected to several other students and teachers, while authors and illustrators have joined us to read too.  

Last year in 2013, 2.3 million participated in Read for the Record and read The Little Engine That Could.  We loved reading this book together as a community and added it to the list of other wonderful books such as Corduroy, Snowy Day, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Llama Llama Red Pajama.  

This year I was especially excited to see what book that we are going to read on this day!

On October 3rd we will all be reading, sharing, and loving Loren Long's Otis.  This sweet, beautifully illustrated book of friendship is a special favorite of Van Meter and at our house.  I grew up on a farm in eastern Iowa so I am especially drawn to the characters and setting.

You can pledge to read here.  There is a wonderful activity guide available to download on the site along with storytelling activity kits as you pledge to read.

I can't wait to have our students create a barn mural for the library and share friendship pictures with others around the world (these two activities can be found in the guide).

I also love how We Give Books, a free digital reading initiative created by Penguin and the Pearson Foundation, gets involved with Read for the Record.  As in years past, the record breaking book is available online for free at We Give Books.  This gives everyone access to the selected book online. I always love sharing the link to the book with our families and with others too.  It is fun for everyone to read this special book each year.  

You can read Otis in English and Spanish at the We Give Books website.  

While you are there check out all of the other books they have too.  This is one of our favorite websites for reading in our school community.  
           
This video is another fun way to get your students, teachers, and community really excited about the celebration and reading.

You can read more about Loren and the other Otis books by visiting his amazing website....

and all of his others books too.  

You can follow him on Twitter at @LorenLong.  

Jumpstart is on Twitter....@Jumpstartkids and follow #ReadfortheRecord too. 

I hope to see all of you Reading for the Record on October 3rd!