A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering in Greenville, S.C., welcomed Chris Draft to their Summer Reading Kick-off Initiative May 27. The event was webcast via live video conference with seven local schools. The students have been challenged to read 100,000 pages this summer and Draft reinforced this effort by charging the students and their parents to read for 30 minutes each day.

Research consistently shows that struggling readers lose ground over the summer. An abundance of evidence points to the fact that summer reading loss is one of the most important factors contributing to the widening achievement gap between students. Draft and The Chris Draft Family Foundation's Literacy Leaders seek to lessen that gap by visiting schools across the nation, partnering with county libraries and educating parents and students on the importance of literacy and obtaining library cards for easy, free access to books.

Greenville County has 84 schools and is the largest school district in South Carolina.  The event at A.J. Whittenberg Elementary will be available for rebroadcast via the S.C. Association of School Librarians website with other schools and libraries across the state.