By CHRIS RANDAZZO
of The Gazette
Reading First will hold a community Trivia Contest at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 29, in the P.J. Jacobs Junior High School Gymnasium.
The contest will include questions from the Winter 2004 Community Reading Book, "Petey," by Ben Mikaelsen as well as from number of other books including former Community Reading Books, "Holes" and "Bud, Not Buddy."
Every year Reading First picks two Community Reading Books and then sponsors a variety of activities based around those in the books.
Previously, the group has held a pancake dinner, because there was one in "Bud, Not Buddy," for example. Other activities have included summer concerts and reading the books on community television and trivia contests.
There isn't a trivia contest in "Petey," though.
"The trivia contest is back by popular demand," said Karen Farley Halverson, one of the volunteers who helps run the Reading First program and its activities and is also the Stevens Point Area Public School District's assistant superintendent for curriculum, learning and student achievement.
The trivia contest will include about 150 questions pulled from the selected readings and teams will compete for prizes, which will include gift certificates from local book stores.
Teams can consist of up to 10 members and include a captain, who must be at least 18 years old.
The deadline for registration is Friday, Jan 21.
To register for the contest, for more information (including the books which questions will be pulled from) or to volunteer with Reading First, call Judie Schiferl at 345-5445. Registration will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Reading First started in the Stevens Point area in 2002 and is a community-based organization that promotes reading and literacy.
Farley Halverson said she got the idea for the Reading First program when she read the book "The 90% Reading Goal," which tells the story of a Washington State School District and how it adopted a 90-percent reading goal for its students.
The district used a variety of things to promote that goal including a public relations campaign with billboards and radio advertising.
Farley Halverson said she was further inspired by the Chicago Reads program, which was based around a whole community reading the same book to promote literacy.
She said Chicago Reads read "To Kill a Mockingbird" and held trials, plays and reading groups.
From that, Farley Halverson and a group of volunteers formed Reading First.
Those volunteers come from all parts of the community including the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, public and parochial schools, libraries, private individuals and businesses. "It's a real representative group," Mary Lou Harris-Manske, a volunteer for the program who is also the reading coordinator for the Stevens Point Area Public School District said.
Harris-Manske said the group got a big boost from former school board member Barb Ruesch, who she said was instrumental in getting the program started and brought it to the school board's attention. "The school board endorsed the district's involvement in Reading First because they saw the inherent value in literacy," she said.
The district mostly provides administrative support for the program.
Financially, it is supported through donations and grants.
Farley Halverson said many groups and individuals in the community have been generous including the Sentry Foundation Inc., Delta Dental, Make a Mark Foundation, Dave and Cindy Worth, and Victoria Nason.
The group has also received grants from the Target Foundation and the Book Manufacturers Institute.
She said Worzella prints and donates all the group's promotional materials.
One of the most important things that Reading First does, Harris-Manske said, is give away books. "The whole purpose is to get books into the hands of children," she said.
Reading First hands out free books at June Dairy Days and its summer concert, among other places and also donates them to other programs like Operation Bootstrap and Head Start.
Harris-Manske said the group gives away about 3,000 books a year.
In addition to the Trivia Contest, Reading First will be bringing Mikaelsen to the area this year.
He will give a free public presentation on Thursday, Feb. 17, at Ben Franklin Junior High School. "I've heard him speak before and he is fabulous," Harris-Manske said. "He's inspiring, fast-paced and humorous. He'll talk for an hour and you'll wish it was five."
In addition to talking about his books, Harris-Manske said the author would also talk about his pet, a 700 pound bear.
"We hope community members take advantage of the opportunity to hear him speak," Farley Halverson said.
In addition to the community presentation, Mikaelsen will speak at a number of area schools and do a writer's workshop with students at Stevens Point Area Senior High School.
Farley-Halverson said the program, which has the motto "Read with someone 20 minutes each day," is aimed at everyone in the community, not just children. "We hope as people read the books they get together with their families and discuss them," she said.
To help the program Book Look, Bookfinders and Book World offer a 20 percent discount on the current Community Reading Book (the discount in "Petey" is good through March 31).
"The local book stores have been terrific to support this," Harris-Manske said.