Taylor Swift and Nick Cannon on stage at the Scholastic Auditorium at Scholastic headquarters in New York for the Read Now with Taylor Swift live webcast event. (Photo: Dante A. Ciampaglia)
Read Now with Taylor Swift
Singer-songwriter talks about the importance of reading
Kid Reporter Grace McManus interviews Taylor Swift after the Read Now webcast. (Photo: Dante A. Ciampaglia)
Reading means a lot to Taylor Swift. That's why she came to the Scholastic headquarters in New York to do a live webcast with host Nick Cannon.
"The cool thing about reading is that when you read a short story or you read something that takes your mind and expands where your thoughts can go, that's powerful," Taylor Swift said at the live event. "And for me, one of the most powerful things about a person is their imagination."
The webcast was hosted in honor of Scholastic's 90th anniversary. Why? Scholastic just launched a new campaign called Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life. It encourages young readers – and everyone else, too – to read every day. In fact, Scholastic also launched a Read Every Day sweepstakes. Between October 27 and November 26, kids can enter a sweepstakes to win a prize such as home library of books or a poster from Taylor Swift. To enter, kids must log on to Scholastic every day for 31 days and record what they read. At the end of the sweepstakes, 31 kids will be selected at random to win a prize. Kids can enter at scholastic.com/readeverydaysweeps.
"I hope that my fans will learn that reading is important, and that having an imagination is important," Taylor told me after the event was over. "I mean, anything you put your mind to and add your imagination into can make your life a lot better and a lot more fun. And I think reading kind of does that for you."
If you don't want to read whole books, you can start with a simple short story. You could read a little bit about the season, or what holidays are coming up. You could start by reading the funny column in the newspaper, too. It doesn't matter what you read. It just matters that you Read Every Day. Then you will Lead a Better Life.
Be sure to check out Grace's post about interviewing Taylor Swift — with video of her interview! — on the Scholastic Kids Press Corps Blog! Also check out Kid Reporter Sydney Rieckhoff's 2008 interview with Taylor Swift, which took place on Taylor Swift's tour bus just as she was beginning her rise to the top of the charts!
And if you missed the webcast, catch the replay at scholastic.com/readeveryday.
NEWS FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
Get the latest on national and international events, movies, television, music, sports, and more from the Scholastic Kids Press Corps.
- Teacher Store
-
Storyworks
The Teacher Store 
Storyworks
Engage young language arts learners with a variety of high-interest reading and skills exercises. Each issue includes riveting nonfiction, original fiction by popular children's authors, read-aloud plays, and a wide range of writing, grammar, and vocabulary exercises. Grades 3-6, Monthly.
Classroom Magazines are available on a 30-day free-trial basis. You will be billed separately. Prices shown for class sets of 10 or more student copies and include Teacher's Editions and complete online
$6.99
Classroom Magazine | Grades 3-6
Grades 3-6 $6.99
- Teacher Store
-
Using Benchmark Papers to Teach Writing With the Traits: Middle School
The Teacher Store 
Using Benchmark Papers to Teach Writing With the Traits: Middle School
by Ruth Culham
View Sample Pages
Trait expert Ruth Culham has created a diverse set of papers, assessed and annotated them, and designed a set of interactive whiteboard exemplars so teachers and students can use them as the focus of trait-based writing inst $21.99
Professional Book | Grades 6-8
Grades 6-8 $21.99
 |
||
|
What five books get Taylor Swift singing? Find out at YouAreWhatYouRead.com!
|
||
 |
