Exercise The Right To Read!

The energetic author of the Sammy Keyes and Shredderman children's book series, Wendelin Van Draanen, wants to help school libraries buy new books in spite of most school budgets favoring technology and site enhancements. Her mission? Make this campaign a marathon -- a reading and exercising marathon.

From October 1st to November 4th, 2007, she invites your local schools to have their students read 26 minutes per day, and walk or run 1 mile per day for 26 days. What's that number 26? The number of miles in a marathon. And Van Draanen and her husband will run in the 2007 New York City marathon to highlight their effort and attract sponsors. If you're feeling tired just thinking about all that activity, don't give up! You can support this great effort by donating to the charity collaborating with Exercise the Right to Read, namely First Read, which buys and distributes books to the poorer schools around the country. If you want to learn more, a great TV report on the Exercise the Right to Read with interviews of Van Draanen, her husband and teachers, explains the program. And if that's not enough, you can keep up with the campaign progress at Van Draanen's blog (which contains lot of golden nuggets on being a children's book writer too!).