Eight Fast Facts
Pearson and Jumpstart’s
Read for the Record 2008 Campaign
October 2nd, 2008

1. On October 2nd, Jumpstart’s national partners supported Read for the Record celebrations across the U.S. Pearson is proud to be the Sponsor and Founding Partner of Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Campaign. Together with Jumpstart we continue to raise awareness of the importance of early literacy and the role Jumpstart plays every day in the lives of young children. This year, Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Campaign partners include Penguin Young Readers Group, American Eagle Outfitters, Hanna Andersson, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, LeapFrog, NBC, Sodexo, and XM Satellite Radio. Once again (this year on the morning of Thursday, October 2), the national campaign kicked off on NBC’s TODAY Show. Pearson people joined thousands of young people, teachers, public figures, and guest readers in big, invitation-only events at Rockefeller Center in New York City, at the Washington Nationals Ballpark in Washington D.C., and at major citywide events planned at the Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles Public Libraries.
» Read the official Read for the Record press release.

2. This year, we expect to register our millionth reader. The Campaign has raised more than $1 million dollars for Jumpstart each year since 2006. In the process, more than 500,000 registered readers confirmed their participation, reading The Little Engine That Could in 2006 and The Story of Ferdinand in 2007. This year, as we tally participation counts from across the country, we expect to equal that number, pushing the total to over 1 million registered readers since 2006.

3. Everywhere, record-breakers were reading Penguin Young Readers’ Corduroy on October 2nd. The official book of this year’s Campaign is Penguin Young Readers’ Corduroy, by Don Freeman. Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira of NBC’s TODAY Show co-wrote the introduction to this special edition – available in both English-language and Spanish-language versions – and musician, actor, and rapper LL Cool J contributed a foreword to the book for parents. Whether they paged through the special edition book, viewed it online, or listened to Matt Lauer, LL Cool J, actors Greg Kinnear and Mary-Louise Parker, and others read on TODAY Show, adults and children across the country (and the world!) enjoyed the chance to share this wonderful story in its fortieth-anniversary year.
» View message from LL Cool J.

4. Read for the Record is a national campaign made up of thousands of local events. Last year, more than 1,500 Pearson people from more than 40 Pearson office locations helped to set the new world record for the largest shared reading event in a single day. This year, participation was even greater: Pearson people took part in Read for the Record celebrations; read Corduroy; and in many locations helped young people create their own personalized ABC books based on the Pearson Foundation’s “Family Book Nights” program. In addition, the Pearson Foundation helped Jumpstart to organize citywide kick-off events in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
» View a round-up of this years Pearson events with local Pearson contacts.

5. Pearson businesses also helped to set the new world record. Since July, the Pearson Foundation has shared more than 200,000 copies of the Campaign edition of Corduroy with teachers, students, community organizations, and school districts around the country. Together with our businesses, we also engaged leaders from hundreds of school districts across the country. We helped to organize a statewide reading event in Montana, brought governors, mayors, and city officials together from Boston to Los Angeles, and involved more public and school libraries than ever before. We also significantly extended our partnership with the USO and with the nonprofit United Through Reading organization (which makes it possible for service people overseas to read books and share them with their children back home), so that the families served by United Though Reading could take part in Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Campaign.
» See recent spotlight and interview on FOX morning show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

6. Thanks to Pearson’s Higher Education team, reading isn’t just for kids. In 2008, more college bookstores carried the special edition book (Corduroy) than ever before. Thanks to the Pearson Higher Education sales force, national sales partners including Barnes and Noble, Follett, and Nascorp, as well as scores of independent booksellers including those on campuses at the University of Arizona, the University of Denver, and the University of Kansas, shared Corduroy and – in many cases – enjoyed the opportunity to champion their own reading advocacy events in the process.

7. Corduroy lives in a department store, but you can get his story online. To encourage people to support Jumpstart again this year, the Pearson Foundation matched contributions made via the Read for the Record website with donations of books to disadvantaged young people, so that they too could participate in the October 2 event. It’s not too late to give or get the special Campaign edition of Corduroy at the official Read for the Record website.
» Give or get a copy of Corduroy.

8. Reading is important all year long! Every day is a good day to read with a child in your life. Learn more at www.readfortherecord.org, and make sure to register for updates on next year’s exciting Campaign!