Volunteers are needed at HISD schools on Monday, Oct. 19, to help set a Guinness World Record for the largest number of children being read to in a 24-hour period. During the event, called Read Across the Globe, 92 HISD elementary campuses will join schools in other cities and countries across the world in a mass reading of “Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table,” by Jacqueline Briggs Martin. The goal is to read to 300,000 children simultaneously, smashing the current record of 238,000.

Parents, community members, and HISD staff can participate in Read Across the Globe by volunteering to be a classroom reader, timekeeper, or witness. Volunteers need to be over 18 years old and should plan on being at an HISD elementary campuses from 8 to 11 a.m. or noon to 3 p.m. on Monday, October 19. To sign up and to pick a campus, go to www.Connect4Literacy.org/readacrosstheglobe.

Read Across the Globe is sponsored by a partnership among Points of Light, the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, Deloitte, and Volunteer Houston. The event coincides with the beginning of the second year of the district’s flagship volunteer reading program, Read Houston Read.

Volunteers for Read Houston Read spend one hour once a week reading to and being read to by an HISD first-grader. The program is a part of the district’s Literacy By 3 initiative, whose goal is to have every student reading at or above grade level by third grade.

To volunteer for Read Houston Read, please visit www.ReadHoustonRead.com.