Publisher Aims to Help Poor Children Read More Books

A donation¹ by a famous writer has helped start an effort, called the United States of Readers, to help poor children read more books.

The classroom program is being launched² by Scholastic³ Book Clubs with a donation of $1.5 million from the writer James Patterson.

Scholastic announced the program recently. It aims to bring books to 32,000 poor children who are in kindergarten to eighth grade.

Judy Newman is president of Scholastic Book Clubs. She said in a statement that in many communities people do not have enough money to buy books. So she said her company "needed to come up with an alternative to our tried and true model, because every child needs to be able to choose and own books, and see themselves as a reader!"

Scholastic is a large publisher of books for children and educational materials. Its goal is to get books into schools to increase literacy⁴. The company has publishing rights in the U.S. for books like the Harry⁵ Potter and Hunger Games series.

A gift by Patterson helped start the new program. He is credited⁶ with selling millions of books. He has already donated more than $10 million to teachers and students through Scholastic.

He said in a statement that he has supported literacy for many years. He believes reading skills are important for the country.

"In many cases, kids simply need access to books — and especially books they want to read — to fall in love with reading, characters, and stories."

Patterson added that the program "will bring books to those schools and communities that need them the most, and ones that we haven't served before."

Scholastic describes the program on its website. It says the United States of Readers program targets children in schools serving poor communities that receive federal⁷ educational money. The company said it has chosen a limited number of schools to take part this year but hopes to expand the program in the coming years.

Words in This Story

alternative –n. offering or expressing a choice; not usual or traditional

literacy –n. the ability to read and write

character –n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie or television show

1 donation   

n.捐赠，捐献，捐助；捐赠物

参考例句：

• She made a personal donation to the fund.她以个人名义向基金会捐款。
• Then next big donation of musical instruments came from Germany.第二笔音乐乐器的大型捐助来自德国。

2 launched   

v.发射( launch的过去式和过去分词 )；[计算机]开始（应用程序）；发动；开展（活动、计划等）

参考例句：

• He launched a bitter diatribe against the younger generation. 他对年轻一代发起了猛烈的抨击。
• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide. 这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。

3 scholastic   

adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的

参考例句：

• There was a careful avoidance of the sensitive topic in the scholastic circles.学术界小心地避开那个敏感的话题。
• This would do harm to students' scholastic performance in the long run.这将对学生未来的学习成绩有害。

4 literacy   

n.识字，有文化，读写能力

参考例句：

• I can't believe that he failed the literacy test.我无法相信他识字测试不及格。
• The literacy rate there is the highest in Central America.那里的识字率居中美洲之首。

5 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

6 credited   

v.记入贷方；信用

参考例句：

• Cook is credited with discovering Hawaii. 人们把发现夏威夷的功劳归于库克。
• The cheetah is generally credited as the world's fastest animal. 猎豹被公认是世界上跑得最快的动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 federal   

adj.联盟的；联邦的；(美国)联邦政府的

参考例句：

• Switzerland is a federal republic.瑞士是一个联邦共和国。
• The schools are screaming for federal aid.那些学校强烈要求联邦政府的援助。