Read for the World Record, a summer reading program, challenged and united students in an attempt to break a world record by reading as many books as possible. Between May 1 and August 31, 2009, kids of all ages tracked their schools’ progress while reading and logging their minutes.

• The Read for the World Record challenge officially began May 1, 2009 and concluded on August 31, 2009.
• Two categories will be recognized in the 2010 Scholastic Book of World Records:

• Total minutes read by ALL participating students
• Top 20 schools with organized Read for the World Record summer reading programs

Kids from every state and around the world participated in the Scholastic Book Fairs Read for the World Record challenge and set a record for summer reading!

Check out these cool facts:

States with the highest volume of participation:
California                        New York
Florida                             Pennsylvania
Texas                              Ohio

Students from 35 countries participated including:
Abu Dhabi                      Japan
China                              Poland
Australia                        Canada
Saudi Arabia                 Ireland
Ethiopia                          Egypt
Puerto Rico                   Philippines
Mexico                           United Kingdom
Italy                                 Virgin Islands