Italy High School is getting ready to start its fifth annual Read It Forward: Pass It On literacy project which will begin April 21st and will end May 23rd. The goal is to see how many 7-12 grade students, teachers and staff members can read the chosen book Girl, Stolen, by April Henry.

On April 21st, twenty paperback copies of the short novel wrapped in brightly colored paper will be hidden in 20 classrooms. Whoever finds the packages gets to open them and read the novel first. Then they will sign the back of the books and pass them on to the next readers.

Readers will take a short online survey about their reactions to the novel as well as sign the big autograph poster on display in the library. All those who read the novel by May 23rd will be invited to a Reader Celebration Party also in May.

To introduce the novel to students and staff, a “book trailer” similar to a movie trailer may be viewed. Anyone is welcome to view the online book trailer by clicking the following link or you may copy and paste it into your web browser: http://bit.ly/AwONft.

The online survey for readers of the novel can be found on the district library page.

Last year over 80 students and staff members read the selected novel – almost one-third of the entire school. We are looking forward to another year of Gladiator readers’ participation.