He’s dressed in his Marvel Comics pajamas and posing during a crafts session at the June 2017 People and Pajamas read-a-thon at the Johnson Branch of the Houston Public Library.

Nick is in the 2nd grade. He struggled with his reading last year and throughout the summer. He loves reading and loves being read to.

Along with his mom, his sister, and three cousins, Nick attended all six reading sessions during the read-a-thon and earned 12 books for his home library.

He couldn’t believe his good fortune!

He asked, “Do we really get to have these books? We get to keep them?”

He also wanted to know if there would be another read-a-thon held at the library the following week.

“This is the best day ever!” he exclamed.

People and Pajamas was the pilot program for a 24-hour read-a-thon called Reading Never Stops that the Wells International Foundation and the Houston Public Library will co-sponsor at a future date.

Through this event, we intend to stop “Summer Slide” – the achievement gap that occurs when children (particularly low-income children) don’t read over summer vacation – by

1. providing an opportunity for children to start or build a home library,

2. inspiring families that aren’t already reading together to begin a new tradition at home, and

3. encouraging children and families to use their neighborhood library by demonstrating that the library can be a place to have fun.