Wolf E. Blitzer was really excited to celebrate increased reading in Buffalo Public Schools through Mayor Brown’s “Reading Rules!” summer celebration this Saturday at the Convention Center.
“The kids absolutely loved ‘Wolf’ Blitzer,” said the mayor’s office. “Many hugs, high fives and pictures were taken by the kids and their families.”
Check out a gallery of photos here.
Thanks for the invite and the certificate, Mayor Brown. Our favorite book was “Dino-Soccer”.
“Reading Rules!” began in 2001, when Mayor Brown served in the New York State Senate, as a way to address the literacy problem in New York State, specifically in Buffalo and Western New York. Mayor Brown started the literacy effort to encourage schoolchildren to read books throughout the summer, and submit written summaries of each book they had read.
Mayor Brown remarked that, “Reading Rules! is one of our hallmark initiatives and it gets better and better as the years go on. Since 2006, nearly 9,000 students have completed the challenge, reading over 60,000 books.”
Children entering grades K-8 must read 7 books from the provided list over the course of the summer, write a brief summary of 8-10 sentences on each and then return the summaries to Mayor Brown in exchange for an invitation to a prize ceremony in early fall. Each student will receive a certificate of achievement and many great prizes donated by the program’s sponsors. High School students entering 9-12 must read at least 4 books to qualify.