Students in Guilford County Schools have a few weeks left to surpass a goal of collectively reading two million books in a year. Coordinator Lisa Gardner says the challenge is successful at getting students reading because it's a competition.
Lisa Gardner: "The students were extremely excited. Anytime there's a challenge, the students are extremely competitive so they want to do their very best."
And that gets parents excited too.
Gardner: "They love the fact that their students are reading and it's not necessarily them having to coerce them into reading, but it's become somewhat of a normalcy for them now, just to leisurely read, especially at the elementary level."
Superintendent Maurice Green set the goal in January for students to read two million books by the year's end. The Two Million Books Challenge is double the one-million book goal Green set last year. The students shattered that goal by reading 1.9 million books.
Gardner: "The goal was to get as many books in the hands of students as we possibly could and just keep them actively reading in order to increase literacy."
The Two Million Books Challenge wraps up on January 13th. There's an extra incentive to get students reading over the holidays. Any student who reads five books before then can get complimentary tickets to a UNC Greensboro basketball game.
