Congratulations to First Book-South Bay LA, California for their tremendous success with last Tuesday’s Speed Read! Helen Coffey, Advisory Board Chair Extraordinaire, worked her magic and pulled together an amazing event.

With the help of local firemen, Coast Guard from Terminal Island, an author, an illustrator, a Borders bookstore, and other members of the community, the invited guests from the Boys & Girls Club Harbor City had a really fun time.

Local literacy hero and realtor Eric Randall served as the Master of the Ceremony, which took place in a retail space provided courtesy of The Avenue of the Peninsula. Helen tells us that the children were shy at first, but before long, they were jumping at the chance to read Green Eggs and Ham and Snow. Many children even read more than once!

Making the event even more special, Steve Gray, an illustrator, and Bernadette Shih, an author and Advisory Board member, signed copies of their books for the children and encouraged everyone to keep on reading.

To all of the readers, attendees, and supporters — thank you! This event raised money for more than 2,200 books and made many new friends! Yet another success for Helen and all of our wonderful Board members in South Bay, LA.

Don’t know what a Speed Read is? You can watch a video of a previous Speed Read to see it for yourself!