Penguin Partners With ABA to Promote Read for the Record

Penguin Young Readers Group is partnering with ABA member stores to promote literacy through Jumpstart’s annual Read for the Record event.

By participating in Read for the Record [1] on October 6, booksellers have the opportunity to join millions of parents and children across the country in setting a new reading record while drawing attention to the need for quality early education. This year, participants have pledged to read Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama Red Pajama (Viking Juvenile), the official RFTR book, in their communities or online.

Penguin Young Readers Group, a division of Pearson, Read for the Record’s presenting sponsor, has been promoting the event in retail outlets and “getting the word out that this is an important and worthy cause,” said Erin Dempsey, director of trade marketing at Penguin Young Readers Group.

“This is the first year Penguin has partnered with the ABA, and we’re thrilled to be working with them,” said Jed Bennett, associate director of young readers marketing at Penguin Young Readers Group. “By partnering with ABA, the PYRG hopes to encourage the participation in the RFTR event within independent bookstores nationwide. ABA and its members are a huge part of what has made books like Llama Llama household favorites, so it is a natural that they be a partner on a campaign that supports literacy.”

By hosting an in-store “Read-O-Rama,” bookstores have the opportunity to join millions of other people reading the same book on the same day. Penguin is providing ABA members with a free RFTR kit that includes a poster, activities, parent brochures, which help explain the event, and tattoos for children. Penguin has also set up a website [2] where ABA members can download a video of the author, Anna Dewdney, reading Llama Llama, as well as activities and other materials that ABA members can use to promote the event on their own websites. Member stores should keep an eye out for the RFTR flier and sticker in the September Red Box.

“This celebration of reading will help contribute to the Pearson Foundation’s donation to Jumpstart, an organization that helps fight for an end to America’s early education achievement gap,” said Bennett. “We’d also love to see widespread participation at bookstores, which will only help further establish the event for years to come.”