RiverRun Hosts Second Annual Read-a-Thon

RiverRun Bookstore [1] held its second "Great Expectations: A Reading Marathon" (GERM), a 24-hour, customer read-a-thon from October 10 through October 11. Local college and high school students and other volunteers participated at RiverRun's used bookstore, SecondRun [2], to benefit a local nonprofit.

"Once again, most of the participants were predominantly high school students, and the fact that teenagers obviously care so much about reading and supporting a great cause makes me happy," said events coordinator, Michele Filgate, who read Bryan Talbot's Alice in Sunderland and Joe Hill's short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts (Harper Paperbacks). "We had a lot of fun playing literary trivia from 3:00 to 4:30 in the morning, and it helped us stay awake in the wee hours."

RiverRun developed the read-a-thon to do its part to counter the decline in reading, as cited by the 2004 National Endowment for the Arts survey Reading at Risk [3], by bringing attention to reading and independent bookstores, while raising money for local nonprofits and celebrating October as National Reading Group Month. Volunteers read more than 4,500 pages combined and raised more than $700 in pledges to support The Birchtree Center, a nonprofit that offers educational programs for children and youth with autism. Participants also answered literary trivia questions, played Scrabble, and heard a local author read from his work. Local food purveyors provided refreshments throughout the event.

In addition to RiverRun, nine other bookstores [4] are participating in GERM events this month, among them The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City; Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vermont; and Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. --Karen Schechner [5]