The Consortium for Public Education is getting ready for another "Reading Rocks," the region-wide celebration of books and literacy that takes place in April each year.

This year's observance is set for the month of April, which is celebrated as the Month of the Young Child. Participating schools plan their own special activities. All participants will receive a commemorative bookmark.

"Reading Rocks" is the culminating event of a larger, ongoing Power Reading on the River project, during which participating schools annually pile up an
estimated 17 million Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R.) minutes over the course of the school term. Power Reading on the River began 14 years ago
with the Consortium's Library Power program, a $1.12-million grant from the DeWitt Wallace-Readerís Digest Fund to improve elementary and middle
school libraries. It now is an activity of the Consortiumís Literacy for Life initiative and, with 2010, is in its twelfth year.