Sky High on Reading in Florida
Sky High on Reading began on April 29 and will run through Dec. 31. Our enthusiasm for it may run even longer than that.
The idea is for the community to read an imaginary stack of books four miles high. We are working directly with our local literacy volunteers as well as the library, reading association, college reading council and, of course, local schools.
We have a summer reading program in place with the public library so we have used that forum to keep it going during the summer. As of June 25, the community has read 3,446 books. Of course, this is a long way from the 760,000 that we figured out would make the four miles, but school started on August 8, and I'm sure it will pick up significantly then.
 These are children in the Visual Arts Center's summer program. Here the instructor reads a book about transportation while the kids paint pictures using toy cars and trucks. |
Two important things to note: A parent reading to a child counts as a book for the child not the parent. And, more importantly, daily reading of the newspaper for one month counts as one book.
One of the main supporting groups, the Bay County Reading Association, is planning a 'Read In' to coincide with the start of school and we have other groups who are planning to issue community challenges once school is back in session!
Sky High On Reading is a program we 'borrowed' from the paper in Porterville, Calif., who borrowed it from a guy (David L. Harrison) in Missouri. We have partnered with a local TV station, radio broadcasting company and Emerald Coast.com to challenge our community to read an imaginary stack of books four miles high. Everyone, young and old is invited to participate. You have to get groups involved, and they have to have people who are willing to be group leaders. The idea is to spread the work out as much as possible so that one person is not doing everything.
Here is a typical scenario:
A school decides to participate so each teacher signs up students in their classes. On a set date each month the kids turn in a list of the books they read. The teacher then tallies the number and gives it to a school coordinator. After the school coordinator has the numbers from all of the classes he or she will then turn in the number of books and the number of students plus a ratio of books per student to a community coordinator. The community coordinator will then turn those numbers in to us, the TV, radio and internet for reporting.
 Jackie Papke of the FSU-PC Reading Council instructs fellow students and colleagues about the Sky High on Reading program during their school kickoff in June. Florida State was the top reading group for the first two months of the program! |
Everyone in the community is being targeted through different groups around town and anyone can have a group. The beauty of having a group is that if you do some really neat event to support Sky High–you're going to get media coverage of your event /organization!
We chose four miles based on what the other communities have done. Four miles is very attainable for our community. We want to make sure this wasn't something we couldn't do because we want it to be a rewarding program for everyone involved.
We had bookmarks made up to give out to everyone who signs up. We also have posters going out to schools and businesses. There will be some prizes given out monthly to the person and/or group who reads the most. The program is very exciting, and all of our partners are ecstatic. 
Melissa Duke is the NIE coordinator for The News Herald in Panama City, Fla. (circ. 34,000).