First Lady Ann LePage to Help Set World Record for Reading on Thursday

“Read for the Record” to raise national awareness about the importance of early education

AUGUSTA – First Lady Ann LePage will participate in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record on Thursday, October 3. Together with Jumpstart and the Pearson Foundation, Mrs. LePage will join children and adults across the country to set a new world record for the largest shared reading experience.

The event is part of a nationwide early education awareness campaign that each fall focuses national attention on the importance of reading.

First Lady LePage will read to over 50 second graders at the Farwell Elementary School in Lewiston beginning at 8:45 a.m. She will then visit to the Sylvio J. Gilbert School in Augusta at noon, where she will read to more than 40 second graders from the Capitol area.

“This is such a wonderful opportunity to bring attention to the importance of reading,” The first Lady said. “I am a firm believer that if you teach a child to read, they can accomplish anything by becoming a life-long learner.”

Read for the Record, presented in partnership with the Pearson Foundation, is an annual event where millions of individuals come together to celebrate literacy by breaking the world record for reading the same book on the same day. On October 3, adults and children across the United States will read the official campaign book, Penguin’s Otis, by best-selling author Loren Long, with many reading the free digital version available at We Give Books.

For more information about Jumpstart’s Read for the Record, including how to register for this year’s campaign, visit www.wegivebooks.org/readfortherecord.