NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This summer, more
than 500,000 children nationwide tackled two important issues,
summer learning loss—the loss of academic skills that occurs when
school is out— and book access, with one solution: reading. As part
of the Scholastic Summer
Read-a-Palooza, a free educational and philanthropic
program, kids tracked their summer reading minutes through the
program's online Summer Reading Challenge, along the way unlocking
200,000 copies of new children's titles to build home libraries for
kids without easy book access. The books, donated by Scholastic,
were distributed to kids at select United Way locations across the
country. Additionally, independent booksellers and libraries
extended the impact of the program by hosting Scholastic Summer
Read-a-Palooza Give Back book drives, donating over 10,000 new and
lightly-used books to local communities across the country.
To learn more about Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza,
visit: www.scholastic.com/readapalooza
According to findings from the Scholastic Kids & Family
Reading Report™: 7th Edition, kids know that reading provides
benefits that extend well beyond the summer months. Seventy-seven
percent agree that reading over the summer will help them during
the school year. However, the same research shares that there is a
rising trend in the number of kids ages 6–17 who read zero books
over the summer, from 15% in 2016 to 20% in 2018.
"With kids as the catalyst for change, and United Way as a
trusted partner in distributing books to those who need them most,
the Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza ensured even more children
experienced the lasting benefits from summer reading which will
extend through the school year and beyond," said Stephanie
Smirnov, Executive Vice President, Global Communications,
Scholastic. "Today, we celebrate these kids and thank the many
parents, teachers, librarians and booksellers who came together to
encourage reading over the summer."
"United Way is proud of our partnership with Scholastic and
honored to have distributed over 200,000 books to encourage reading
through the Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza program," said
Suzanne McCormick, U.S. President,
United Way Worldwide. "United Way is dedicated to building more
resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities and we believe
it's critical all children have access to a strong start in life
and the ability to develop essential literacy skills through access
to quality books."
This is the seventh year in a row kids have read more than 100
million minutes through the online Summer Reading Challenge with a
total 109,334,297 minutes. In addition, the school, public
library or community partner organization with most minutes read
earn the title of "Best in State" School, Top Library or Top
Community Partner. They will be featured in the 2020 Scholastic
Book of World Records to be released on November 5. The 2019 top participants are:
Best in State Schools:
- Alabama: Mt. Carmel
Elementary, Huntsville, 37,491
minutes
- Alaska: North Pole Elementary
School, North Pole, 32,352
minutes
- Arizona: American Leadership
Academy - Ironwood Elementary, Queen
Creek, 681,300 minutes
- Arkansas: The New School, Fayetteville, 117,018 minutes
- California: Warm Springs
Elementary School, Fremont,
1,786,885 minutes
- Colorado: Prospect Ridge
Academy, Broomfield, 804,161
minutes
- Connecticut: Scotland
Elementary School, Scotland,
177,451 minutes
- Delaware: Etta J. Wilson
Elementary School, Newark, 317,787
minutes
- District of Columbia: Holy
Trinity School, Washington, D.C.,
19,372 minutes
- Florida: Liberty Park
Elementary School, Greenacres, 2,697,828 minutes
- Georgia: Savannah Country Day
Lower School, Savannah, 400,293 minutes
- Hawaii: Kanoelani Elementary
School, Waipahu, 36,043
minutes
- Idaho: Compass Public Charter
School, Meridian, 161,000 minutes
- Illinois: Walnut Trails
Elementary School, Shorewood,
691,523 minutes
- Indiana: Allisonville
Elementary School, Indianapolis,
383,854 minutes
- Iowa: Clayton Ridge Elementary
School, Garnavillo, 312,365
minutes
- Kansas: St. Thomas Aquinas
School, Wichita, 180,580
minutes
- Kentucky: Veterans Park
Elementary, Lexington, 963,799
minutes
- Louisiana: Lisa Park
Elementary School, Houma,
1,257,472 minutes
- Maine: Buxton Center
Elementary School, Buxton, 373,232
minutes
- Maryland: Bradley Hills
Elementary School, Bethesda,
1,105,115 minutes
- Massachusetts: James M. Quinn
Elementary School, North
Dartmouth, 1,357,407 minutes
- Michigan: St. Clair Middle
School, St. Clair, 312,631
minutes
- Minnesota: Maranatha Christian
Academy, Brooklyn Park, 586,609
minutes
- Mississippi: Annunciation
Catholic School, Columbus, 719,549 minutes
- Missouri: Murphy Elementary
School, High Ridge, 98,684
minutes
- Montana: Bonner K-8 School,
Bonner, 23,938 minutes
- Nebraska: Stuart Elementary
School, Stuart, 789,612 minutes
- Nevada: Jan Jones Blackhurst
Elementary School, Las Vegas,
226,638 minutes
- New Hampshire: Rochester
Middle School, Rochester, 582,634
minutes
- New Jersey: Newell Elementary
School, Allentown, 1,507,274
minutes
- New Mexico: Chamisa
Elementary, White Rock, 306,104
minutes
- New York: Village Elementary School, Hilton, 784,039
minutes
- North Carolina: A.B. Combs
Leadership Magnet Elementary School, Raleigh, 1,217,593 minutes
- North Dakota: Erik Ramstad Middle School, Minot, 263,822
minutes
- Ohio: Ledgeview Elementary
School, Macedonia, 201,918
minutes
- Oklahoma: Colcord Public
School, Colcord, 116,049
minutes
- Oregon: Holy Cross Catholic
School, Portland, 486,937
minutes
- Pennsylvania: Skippack
Elementary School, Collegeville,
1,014,454 minutes
- Rhode Island: North Smithfield
Elementary School, North
Smithfield, 281,520 minutes
- South Carolina: Oakridge
Elementary School, Clover, 700,116 minutes
- South Dakota: Aberdeen
Christian School, Aberdeen,
161,122 minutes
- Tennessee: Crosswind
Elementary School, Collierville,
937,598 minutes
- Texas: Eastwood Knolls
International School, El Paso,
3,627,215 minutes
- Utah: Freedom Academy,
Provo, 507,719 minutes
- Vermont: Orwell Village
School, Orwell, 84,898
minutes
- Virginia: Ashburn Elementary
School, Ashburn, 414,448
minutes
- Washington: Sunrise Elementary
School, Spokane Valley, 1,027,661 minutes
- West Virginia: St. Francis
Central Catholic School, Morgantown, 718,377 minutes
- Wisconsin: Riverdale Elementary-Middle School,
Muscoda, 449,011 minutes
- Wyoming: Casper Classical
Academy, Casper, 46,342 minutes
U.S. Territories:
- Northern Mariana Islands:
Saipan Community School, Saipan, 627 minutes
- Puerto Rico: Robinson School, San
Juan, 19,058 minutes
- U.S. Virgin Islands: Joseph
Gomez Elementary School, St.
Thomas, 19,212 minutes
Top 10 Public Libraries and Community Partner
Organizations:
- Dustin Michael Sekula Memorial
Library, Edinburg, TX, 435,369
minutes
- Pickford Community Library, Pickford,
MI, 381,097 minutes
- Albia Public Library, Albia,
IA, 225,837 minutes
- Okeechobee County Library, Okeechobee, FL, 117,022 minutes
- Choteau/Teton Public Library,
Choteau, MT, 62,373 minutes
- Gibbon Public Library, Gibbon,
NE, 24,733 minutes
- Community Progress Council Home Base Program, York, PA, 21,000 minutes
- Girl Scouts Troop 2241, Turlock,
CA, 14,229 minutes
- Moravia Public Library, Moravia,
IA, 13,795 minutes
- Joseph H. Plumb Memorial
Library, Rochester, MA, 13,698
minutes
To learn more about Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global
children's publishing, education and media company, visit the
Company's media room: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com.
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SOURCE Scholastic