Literacy/Reading

RiverRun Bookstore 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, to benefit a local nonprofit.

This October, RiverRun Bookstore will be hosting its second "Great Expectations: A Reading Marathon" (GERM), a 24-hour, customer read-a-thon. And now the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, bookstore is inviting independent booksellers nationwide to take up the challenge, too.

On her way to a meeting of the Library of Congress' Reading Promotions Partners at the Center for the Book in Washington, D.C., ABA Director of Member Services Jill Perlstein stopped at several bookstores along the way to chat with their owners and snap a few photos for BookWeb.org's photo gallery. In a trip covering over 600 miles in a little more than two days, Perlstein stopped at six ABA member stores.

Since its inception in 1966, Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) programs have prepared and motivated children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those who need them most -- underserved children from birth to age eight. Since 1975, RIF's Inexpensive Book Distribution program, which is authorized under the U.S.

On November 19, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence, a new analysis of reading patterns in the U.S. The study, which is a follow-up to NEA's 2004 Reading at Risk, revealed recent declines in voluntary reading and test scores alike, trends NEA described as having "severe consequences for American society."

November marks two important events for booksellers and readers: Children's Book Week 2007, sponsored by the Children's Book Council, and Jewish Book Month, sponsored by the Jewish Book Council.

Page23, a one-year-old project of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, promotes reading among people who may reject traditional marketing approaches through specially selected title lists, displays, and other promotional materials.

One Shared World, a campaign to raise awareness of global poverty and generate dialogue about solutions, is reaching out to booksellers in the Book Sense marketing program.

From October 15 to 21, libraries, schools, and bookstores across America will celebrate Teen Read Week, now in its ninth year. A national literacy initiative aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers, and other concerned adults, Teen Read Week is sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

James Patterson, the bestselling author whose suspense novels have been described as keep-you-up-all-night page-turners, is once again awarding cash prizes to booksellers, educators, festival organizers, philanthropic groups, and others, who find effective ways to spread the excitement of books and promote reading.