Since instituting Hampton Reads One Book (HROB), Hampton City Schools has seen positive outcomes in all our 24 elementary schools with an increase in reading achievement, family involvement, and community engagement. This dynamic reading event is fostering a community wide “uplift” of literacy. Our PreK-grade 5 students’ families are able to experience the enjoyment of a great book together, as they read the same chapter aloud daily in their homes. The Hampton community has also embraced HROB, creating a true community book club. Old Point National Bank has graciously sponsored HROB since the inception of the book club, helping put books in the hands of our students and growing their home libraries. Community members throughout our great city have taken the time to read chapters aloud to our students. Our very own Hampton Police Division even provided a copy of the book and the book club schedule to each officer in their department which allowed an officer to engage with a few students while patrolling the city. One of the children in the group saw a copy of the HROB book on the officer’s front seat and immediately began discussing the book. The officer asked the boys about their favorite part of the book and even quickly created some trivia questions for the students. This one example is a true testament of our community engagement and how HROB is creating a love of reading and showing our students that everyone reads. We look forward to continuing HROB as our community book club will certainly impact student and family literacy for years to come and establish literacy as a core value in our city.

“Toast to the schools for making the project so exciting for the kids… That excitement continued onto their families, then on to their coworkers and friends.”

“Toast to the Dad who read the Wishtree to his young daughter while they waited for the Sing for the Soup Kitchen concert to start. What a great example of the purpose for this project!”

“Dear Bentonville School Family,

Thank you so much for providing our elementary students with the All Bentonville Reads Program. The program is a fantastic way to encourage the love of reading. My first grade daughter enjoyed reading Charlotte’s Web with me. On Tuesday night, Alyssa, my daughter, said to me, “I love reading Charlotte’s Web!” She looked forward to the daily trivia questions during morning announcements at school. My whole family appreciated the wonderful Celebration at Crystal Bridges. As a parent and teacher, I believe that the All Bentonville Reads Program is a fantastic way to combine the love of reading with community involvement. Thank you so much! You did an awesome job!

“My favourite part of Wish Tree was when all of the Grade Oners got to go outside and tie ribbons on the tree. It was super fun!”

I have experienced first-hand the difference it makes for a student when a community is able to focus on literacy for an entire week(s) by reading the same book.

“Our families absolutely love it,” Cedo says. “If we ever stopped doing the program, there would be real push back from the community.”