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ROSLINDALE, Mass. (April 13, 2015) – Elementary school students don’t typically bring a book outside for recess, but at the Mozart Elementary School in Roslindale, Mass., books were the most popular item on the playground, Monday afternoon.
The school earned a read aloud session from the Boston Celtics for their participation in the Read to Achieve program, presented by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) in partnership with the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation and community partner ReadBoston.
When it was time for the event to begin, students raced out to the schoolyard in excitement; they gathered for the read aloud, grabbing a Read to Achieve t-shirt along the way. With more than 150 students settled outside, the guest readers were introduced to the sea of Celtic green.
C’s center Tyler Zeller, Vice President of HMH Claudia Reuter, Mozart School Principal Erin Borthwick and ReadBoston representative Katie Sullivan entered the playground to cheers as they took their seats in front of the student audience.
Joining the VIPs up front were five student readers who had earned the right to participate for their outstanding commitment to the program.
The book selected for the read aloud was HMH’s Balloons over Broadway by Melissa Sweet.
One by one, VIPs and student readers read pages from the book, telling the story of puppeteer Tony Sarg who created the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In between pages, students shared their thoughts on the book and answered questions about the message of the story. They also had the opportunity to ask questions to the VIPs.
After Zeller read the final page of the book, he shared a few reasons why reading is so important in his life.
“Not only does reading help me relax when I’m not playing basketball,” explained Zeller, “but I’m also responsible for reading scouting reports off the court, to get an advantage on my opponent on the court.”
When Zeller finished speaking, most students got up thinking that the event was over, but HMH had one more surprise in store.
Reuter announced to the students that HMH was donating 1,000 brand new books to the school’s library. Each youngster also received a cinch bag with a brand new book inside to take home.