Evergreen participates in national read-a-thon

Spines cracked and pages turned Friday at Evergreen Elementary school.

Fortunately, the only spines cracked were those of books. Guest readers in the form of parents and other relatives showed up to participate in the "Read the Most Coast to Coast"event. The event aimed to get 5 million students reading and taking online accelerated reading quizzes from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Teachers and fellow students recognized particularly prolific readers at an assembly Monday morning.

The event's nationwide goal was to have 5 million quizzes taken. They

ultimately missed that mark, but improved over the previous year' mark by about 600,000, said Evergreen principal Deidre Jenson.

"I was so proud of everybody on Friday,"she said. "You guys were reading machines."

The goal of the event focused on the total quantity of books. Librarians attached stickers to books indicating point values to be gained when the quizzes were passed, and students were encouraged to read as many books as they could during that time.

The top readers in each grade received books as a prize.

Fifth-grader Chase Kincaid said he' piling up the books this year. Last year, he claimed to have read almost 500 books. He was nearing 200 books on the year.

He likes books about dinosaurs (his favorite dinosaur is the spinosaurus) best of all, but during a brief visit to the library Friday morning, he piled up books about animals, boats and aircraft carriers and lugged them to the counter.

It's important to read "because you get more points," he said. "and, there's a

winner, too."

The school will now turn to an Iditarod-themed event in connection with the famous dogsled which started this week.