Read for the Record at St. Emily School

On Oct. 25, St. Emily students joined millions of others to beat the world record for most people reading the same book at the same time!

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt encouraged its employees to volunteer in local schools to read the book, Maybe Something Beautiful, with children, and donate the book to the classroom. Geraldine Stevens, HMH Product Marketing Director of Social Studies and World Languages-and St. Emily parent-read aloud to Mrs. Tagbo's and Mrs. Letica's kindergarten students. HMH donated the texts in both English and Spanish to the kindergarten libraries.

In its 13th year, Read for the Record brings together millions of people each year in classrooms, libraries, community centers and homes across the United States to highlight the importance of building early literacy and language skills for every child. The nonprofit Jumpstart 2018 Read for the Record campaign selected Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Maybe Something Beautiful, written by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell and illustrated by Rafael López. In this exuberant picture book about transformation through art, Mira lives in a gray urban community until a muralist arrives and, along with his paints and brushes, brings color, joy, and hope to the neighborhood.