Grand Valley students, faculty and staff, along with members of the community, will read from the Chronicles of Narnia in 15 minute intervals. The nearly 100 participants will get sponsors to support them.
Nancy Patterson, chair of the Reading Language Arts Program at Grand Valley and organizer of the event, said there are less than 100 paperback books in the Burton Middle School library. Though the library collection has roughly 7,500 books, most are outdated. She said the size of the library is less than half of what it should be.
"Students use Burton's library all the time," said Patterson. "They are hungry for books, but there simply aren't enough books to feed that hunger. We cannot expect students' literacy rates to improve if we cannot supply them with books to read."
The middle school years are the exact time when students lose interest in reading, said Patterson. The biggest factor in literacy is a well-stocked library.
The 24-hour reading marathon begins at noon on Thursday, March 23 and ends at noon on Friday, March 24 at the DeVos Center on Grand Valley's Pew Grand Rapids Campus.
Burton Middle School will hold a reading marathon to kick off the event and celebrate reading. On March 21 and 22, students, teachers, administrators and community members will read all day for two days.
MEDIA INTERVIEWS: Contact Nancy Patterson at (616) 331-6226 or at [email protected]. For more information contact News and Information Services at (616) 331-2221.
