CLEVELAND — As we turn the page on 2023, we wanted to share some highlights from the year-long Cleveland Reads campaign.
WKYC Studios was a partner in the Cleveland Reads initiative, and we've been big fans of this citywide reading challenge since it kicked off on the first of the year. The campaign, dreamed up by Mayor Justin Bibb and the Cleveland Public Library, challenged Greater Cleveland residents to collectively read one million books and/or one million minutes during 2023.
All year long on 3News, we hyped up the power of reading by spotlighting local and national authors and keeping you informed about all the events happening across the city. On our "We the People" show, we embraced the campaign fully, interviewing a different author every month.
We let them tease what was inside the covers of their books, to entice viewers to pick up a book that they otherwise might not, and viewers took the bait! They emailed us by the dozens to win free books.
Since we are the Education Station, of course, we made sure that the kids at our adopted school — Harvey Rice Wraparound School in Cleveland's Buckeye neighborhood — participated in the reading challenge.
Last spring, Harvey Rice students competed to see which class could read the most books. and the results were announced at a schoolwide assembly. Ms. Alexander’s first-grade class received the top honor for reading a collective 73 books during the competition.
For their reward, her students earned a free trip to see the Immersive Disney exhibition, plus bags full of free books and gifts.
As the Cleveland Reads logo illustrates, there’s a little magic that happens when you open a book. Our WKYC marketing team took that idea and ran with it. designing a creative commercial that showcased the magic of reading, with the help of some special effects.
Sending free books into Cleveland neighborhoods to encourage residents to read was a big part of the Cleveland Reads marketing strategy. Little Free Libraries with the Cleveland Reads logo have popped up across the city, and books were also given away at a beautiful series of literacy murals in Cleveland's Buckeye neighborhood painted by artist Mister Soul.
We have a lot of book lovers working here at WKYC Studios, and as the Cleveland Reads webpage kept tabs on our city's slow progress toward the twin goals of one million minutes and one million books, our employees kept reminding viewers of the need to read, on air and in person. Danielle Wiggins visited Harvey Rice Wraparound School on Read Across America Day to share a storybook, and Matt Rascon and Kaitor Kay made appearances at back-to-school fairs in August to give away books.
Perhaps no one captured the importance of reading more poignantly than Mike Polk Jr. during a "We the People" interview where he reminisced about the first book he remembers reading with his grandma. The book was "The Sesame Street Book of Opposites" with comical pictures of actor Zero Mostel, and he brought it along for the interview with Leon Bibb.
"It was very formative in my life and to this day," he recalled. "I remember getting up on on my grandma's lap and her reading this to me and us going through the whole book, and that locks in with you when you're a kid."
Inside his story is a tribute to the real magic of reading, because if you're familiar with Mike, you know that he went on to become a comic performer — just as Zero Mostel was. It's proof that books can lift children and adults out of their everyday worlds and give them amazing aspirations.
So how does the story end? As 2023 came to a close, it was time for the big geveal. A huge crowd paraded to the steps of Cleveland City Hall to hear the final tally: 1.4 million books and more than 14 million minutes read.
The goal was met, and exceeded! Cleveland can now proudly call itself "the city that reads."