First Lady Crissy Haslam Celebrates Student Participation in The Read20 Family Book Club

Mrs. Haslam visits Union Heights Elementary School in Morristown to celebrate their students’ commitment to reading

NASHVILLE – First Lady Crissy Haslam visited Union Heights Elementary School in Morristown, Tenn. today to celebrate student participation in her Read20 Family Book Club, a program encouraging Tennessee students and families to read together for at least twenty minutes each day. Mrs. Haslam congratulated the students’ commitment to literacy and read Jerry Spinelli’s The Library Card, the Read20 Book of the Month for May, during the school’s celebration program. Mrs. Haslam also delivered books to Union Heights Elementary on behalf of Scholastic’s 7th Annual Summer Challenge to help their students have more access to books for summer reading.

“Daily reading can be even more important when students are out of the classroom, because children experience learning loss over the summer from simply being out of school,” said Mrs. Haslam. “Reading together as a family at home can keep children learning over the summer break.”
After the Read20 Celebration in Hamblen County, Mrs. Haslam traveled to Hawkins and Hancock counties to thank local Imagination Library affiliates, volunteers and stakeholders for their work in promoting early literacy and school readiness in their communities. Launched by Dolly Parton in 1996 as a gift to the children in her hometown of Sevierville, Tenn., the Imagination Library mails one new, age-appropriate book every month to registered children from birth until age five – at no cost to families and regardless of income. The Imagination Library is available to all of Tennessee’s 408,000 children under age five, and an Imagination Library program affiliate exists in all 95 counties in the state.

“A child’s first learning experiences can set the trajectory for the rest of their life,” Mrs. Haslam said. “The Imagination Library can help all Tennessee children to have a healthy start and greater opportunity in life by providing access to books at home.”

For more information about the Read20 Family Book Club visit www.tn.gov/read20, www.facebook.com/CrissyHaslam, follow @Read20TN on Twitter, or go to your local public library.

For more information about your county’s Imagination Library program, or for information on how to register a child, visit www.GovernorsFoundation.org, www.facebook.com/TNImaginationLibrary, or call toll-free at 1-877-99-BOOKS.