This Saturday is National Readathon Day. Why? Because millions of Americans still struggle with basic literacy. 40% of American adults are either at or below basic reading proficiency, and 14% are fully illiterate. But the trouble doesn’t stop there. Each year, millions of Americans — especially our youth — are losing touch with the power and importance of reading books. As Malcolm X said, “People don’t realize how a whole life can be changed by one book.”
Help change lives by celebrating National Readathon Day with Penguin Random House, GoodReads, Mashable, and the National Book Foundation. Together with your support, we hope to help fund their efforts to educate, tutor, create and sustain a lifelong love of reading.
You can get involved by joining readers across America in a marathon reading session onSaturday, January 24. From Noon – 4 PM in our respective time zones, we will sit and read a book in our own home, library, school or bookstore.
Get started now by creating your own Firstgiving Fundraising page, and inviting friends and family to donate, or visit the Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.
You can also create a fundraising team, enabling your community to fund raise together as a group to contribute to the National Book Foundation’s efforts to promote reading in America. Visit the Readathon Resources page for supporting materials and information on how to get started.
And be sure to share your experiences and photos using the hash tag, #timetoread!
If you’re on Goodreads, enter the challenge! Don’t forget to log it in our Winter Reading program as well.
If you don’t want to give money, there are other ways to get involved like tutoring, volunteering, or making sure you pick up a book every now and then and that your friends do too.
