Walden Media has a new movie coming out next month — their version of Charlotte’s Webb.
As part of the movie launch, they’re doing what they always try to do — getting kids to read. Specifically this time, they’re aiming to break a world reading record with Charlotte. A challenge!
The whole idea behind this (and most of what Walden does), fundamentally, as Walden’s executive veep and general counsel, Francis X. Flaherty Jr., tells me, is to “remind students that a book underlies the movie.” They’ve got no business deal going on with publishers — won’t be making money off every new copy of the book purchased; they simply “consider it a matter of fundamental importance to remind students of the great stories and ideas that come from reading.”
Sounds very good to me.
Walden’s Charlotte’s Webb site has more details:
On Wednesday, December 13, 2006, at 12 noon (EST), you are invited to join students, educators, librarians and fans of Charlotte’s Web who will gather in schools, hospitals, libraries and community centers to read a passage from E. B. White’s classic tale of friendship, kindness, selfless giving and miracles. It is our hope that “Break a World Reading Record with Charlotte’s Web” will introduce this wonderful story to a new generation and reintroduce the story to fans who haven’t read it since childhood.
Get more details and sign up here . And let me know how it goes. Good luck.