By Susan Bromley

Staff Writer

Brandon Twp.– Reading is a solitary activity, but this summer, it’s also a common goal.

Residents of the community are invited to join a challenge with students, parents, friends, neighbors, and strangers this summer to read One Million Pages.

The Brandon School District, in partnership with the Brandon Public Library, are hosting the Brandon Community Summer Reading Challenge, aka “One Million Pages.”

“We wanted something to help with the summer drain,” said Michelle Tyrrell, Brandon Middle School English teacher. “Basically, when students are away from school, their language arts and math skills go backward and you have to reteach in the fall. We want to keep their reading skills strong and improve them through the summer.”

One Million Pages is open to everyone in the school district, she adds, both kids and adults, and can include not only book pages, but also the pages of newspapers and magazines. Kristen Kelsey, BHS English teacher, and Brandie Bevel, Oakwood Elementary teacher, collaborated on the initiative early in the year.

In May, each school in the district conducted a book drive, collecting more than 6,000 donated books from the community, and those are now being used in swaps to keep everyone reading new materials without having to spend money or travel to get new books.

Readers can get and give books at swap locations including Bueche’s Food World, 400 N. Ortonville Road, Harvey Swanson Elementary, 209 Varsity Drive; and Little Free Libraries at the Sherman Village Park as well as the Sashabaw Meadows Mobile Home Park.

The Brandon Township Library of course also has plenty of titles to borrow and is participating in One Million Pages this year as its annual summer reading program.

Library Director Rebecca Higgerson said when she was approached by District Superintendent Matt Outlaw about the program, she simply responded, “We’re in.”

Higgerson is excited by the community having a shared goal to read a total of one million pages and believes it could energize everyone in a conversation about what they are reading.

“It’s a great way to have a shared identity in the community,” she said. “This is an opportunity to do something different and new and exciting.”

Those wanting to participate in One Million Pages can find more information and log pages at http://www.brandonschooldistrict.org/reading-challenge/, simply by clicking community member or identifying with a school if a student. Those wanting to keep closer track of their reading can still obtain reading logs at the library and enter drawings there as well.