What does it take to inspire a new generation of readers? For local literacy non-profit Read To Succeed, the effort begins at a young age, with programs that target toddlers, pre-K students, and their parents and grandparents.

Since 2003, Read To Succeed has connected MTSU education classes and community volunteers with families at Section 8 housing in Rutherford County as well as city and county schools to focus on literacy. Read To Succeed Executive Director Lisa Mitchell says that as our community continues to grow, focusing on family literacy becomes more and more important.

“Inter-generational illiteracy and poverty cannot be broken until the family as a whole begins to learn and realize the importance of education,” Mitchell says. “Many programs focus on just the adult or just the child. The value of Read To Succeed’s family literacy programs is its focus on the family as a whole.”

Each semester, Read To Succeed works with professors in MTSU’s education department to serve several in-need, local schools. In the past year alone, Read To Succeed has held programs at Mitchell Neilson Primary, Bradley Academy, Hobgood Elementary, John Coleman Elementary, Smyrna Primary, La Vergne Primary, Black Fox Elementary, and Buchanan Elementary, along with hosting monthly Imagination Stations for parents and their children who haven’t yet entered pre-school at Franklin Heights and Spring Valley in Murfreesboro. These programs provide reading time and supervised literacy activities for families, with MTSU education students or community volunteers creating and leading fun art, music, and literacy activities related to a carefully chosen book.

The goal of these programs is to foster the enjoyment of reading in Rutherford County families. The programs help parents feel more confident in sharing books with their children, model "active reading" for parents, and create a venue for family members to enjoy quality time together.

Parents are offered entrance into Read To Succeed’s one-on-one adult tutoring program or ESL classes throughout the county if they want to continue to progress their own literacy skills. Read To Succeed provides a meal for each participant and every family goes home with a new book, to keep, every week.

Murfreesboro’s Newk’s has donated several meals over the past two years. Newk’s local Marketing and Catering Director Mollie Ann Trollinger says that the restaurant gladly supports Read To Succeed’s mission of enhancing education in Rutherford County.

"It’s important to understand,” Trollinger says, “how literacy affects many aspects of one's life, including education and health.”

Several education professors work with their classes for weeks to prepare curriculum for families participating in Read To Succeed’s programs. And though the main goal is to serve these families, it benefits the MTSU students, as well.

“There is no better learning than active, hands-on service learning,” says Terri Tharp, an elementary and education professor who has worked with Read To Succeed for years. “The pre-service teachers' experiences with Read to Succeed and the local schools is service learning at its best. They are able to interact with the children, family members, school personnel, and Read to Succeed staff to advocate the importance of literacy. One of the best lessons that they learn is the importance of a strong home-school-community connection, and that they can be a part of the solution to address the literacy needs of our community.”

These professors—who’ve dedicated their careers to figuring out how to best educate our community’s children—help Read To Succeed improve its programs each semester.

Professor of Reading Education Joan Boulware says that Read To Succeed’s literacy initiative is the best she’s been involved in through her 30 years as an educator.

“Last year alone,” Boulware says, “seventy of my education students worked with underserved children and their families as a part of Families That Read, Succeed sponsored by Read to Succeed.”

Over the past nine years, Read To Succeed’s programs have evolved into a community-wide endeavor: each semester, hundreds of MTSU students work to help these families, countless volunteers show up to serve food and pass out books, funders like the Predators Foundation, Charity Circle, the Dollar General Foundation and Nissan Foundation generously support Read To Succeed’s programs, and local restaurants donate food and staff time. It is, truly, a group effort, and it’s an effort that keeps on growing.

There’s no denying that Rutherford County got swept up in Hunger Games mania this year. Murfreesboro placed on Amazon.com’s list of the top 20 cities most obsessed with the dystopian thriller, and the county has been buzzing about Katniss and her bow and arrow for months.

In Rutherford County, it started with an initiative called One Book, a program created by local literacy non-profit Read To Succeed aimed at promoting literacy in our community. One Book is a collaborative project of Read To Succeed, Barnes & Noble, Linebaugh Library System, and United Way, created to challenge readers in Rutherford County to join in reading the same book.

In case you’ve missed this year’s One Book madness, Read To Succeed’s choice The Hunger Games tells the story of a totalitarian state called Panem that has risen from the postwar ashes of North America. Each year, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 to 18 are chosen from each Panem district to compete in the Hunger Games, a gladiatorial competition in which only one teen can survive. This battle is televised and played throughout all of Panem, forcing its residents to watch with a mix of grisly fascination and tyrannical obligation.

It’s a bloody, at times gruesome, tale wrought with messages about our culture’s fascination with reality television, our desensitization to violence and the danger of an all-too-powerful government. And from its intended young-adult audience to their parents and grandparents, we can’t stop reading.

As the fifth year of this event comes to a close, One Book's committee invites the community to formally submit their opinions—whether you loved or loathed The Hunger Games— in a survey and to keep reading this summer with One Book's 2012 supplemental reading list.

Visit readtosucceed.org/onebook.htm to fill out a quick survey before July 1st and you will be entered to win a gift card to JoZoara’s coffee shop in Murfreesboro.

Read on to find out what One Book thought about choosing this year instead of The Hunger Games and for a list of what to read next if you loved the young adult novel.

Suggested Summer Reading (including titles considered for 2012’s One Book)

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer - A boy embarks on a New York City treasure hunt, following clues from his father, killed in the World Trade Center attacks.
• People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks - The incredible journey of a 15th-century Hebrew manuscript is discovered through a series of microscopic clues; this fictional take on a real-life event makes for spellbinding novel.
• Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes - The brutality of war is detailed in this extraordinary novel by a decorated Vietnam veteran. Matterhorn is considered by many critics as one of the best accounts of the Vietnam war to date.
• The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman--The lives of a group of misfit reporters and editors of an English language newspaper in Rome is portrayed in their lovable imperfection.
• Kindred by Octavia Butler - A young woman is transported from her life in modern-day California to the antebellum South in this magical novel.
• Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann - A look at the intertwined lives of New Yorkers in the 1970s, connected through a tightrope walker at the top floor of the World Trade Center.
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee--An American classic told by young Scout Finch who, along with her brother Jem, are caught up in the racially charged events in the Deep South in the 1930s.

NONFICTION

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (the runner-up choice of this year's One Book): A young African-American mother of five who died in 1951 has likely saved your life. Her cells, harvested without her consent, started a medical revolution and multimillion-dollar industry, yet her family can’t afford health insurance.
• A Pearl in the Storm by Tori Murden McClure (MTSU's Community Summer Read for 2012): The first woman to row alone across an ocean
• Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand: A World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption
• Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall: A modern-day slave, an international art dealer, and the unlikely woman who bound them together

If You Loved The Hunger Games, try:

• Camp Half-Blood Series- Rick Riordan, Follows the story of Perseus “Percy” Jackson as he discovers his true heritage as a descendant of Greek gods and fights to save his friends and family on Mount Olympus.
• The Chronicles of Narnia- C.S. Lewis, Fantasy series following the stories of the Pevensie children and their friends, who enter the magical land of Narnia through portals in their own homes and backyards, and their adventures with the lion Aslan, the King of Narnia.
• Ender’s Game- Orson Scott Card, A gifted young boy, Ender, may be the earth’s only hope in a global war against an alien army.
• The Inheritance Cycle Series- Christopher Paolini, A fantasy series in which a teenage boy, Eragon, and his dragon, must lead a rebellion to overthrow a wicked lord.
• The Lord of the Rings- J.R.R. Tolkien, Fantasy series in which Frodo Baggins, a hobbit, must band with his fellowship of hobbits, elves, dwarves, men, and wizards in order to destroy the Ring of Power created by the evil Lord Sauron.
• A Wrinkle in Time Series- Madeleine L’Engle, Science-fiction series based on the Murry family whose gifted children seek to find their father, a government agent, who has mysteriously disappeared into a fourth dimension.

Murfreesboro, TN - Health and literacy are intrinsically linked; their relationship represents a deeply-rooted issue in the medical world, one that deserves careful attention. Among elderly people, the evidence suggests that those with low health literacy have generally poorer health and die sooner, and the CDC estimates that 80% of adults have trouble understanding  medical information.

On Wednesday, Read To Succeed, the Rutherford Health Department, and Primary Care & Hope Clinic will focus on these issues at a Health and Literacy Forum, open to all local medical professionals or interested community members. The forum will be held from 12 p.m. to 1 pm at the Rutherford County Health Dept located at 100 West Burton Street, with lunch provided by Newk’s. Pharmacist Kathryn Ponder, Read To Succeed Adult Literacy Coordinator Shelly Stanley, and a physician from the Health Department will lead a discussion on identifying the signs of a low-literacy-level patient, how to support that patient, and how to improve literacy in our community.

At the first three Read To Succeed Health and Literacy Forums held this past year, conversation generated by both health providers and educators showed a distinctive need for several more of these events.

"Read To Succeed has begun offering Health and Literacy Forums to showcase the important issue of literacy as it affects not only one's education and career performance, but also how it impacts other aspects of life, including health,” Stanley says. “Many of the learners in our one-on-one Adult Tutoring program have expressed difficultly in handling forms, insurance, preventative care, and especially emergency medical issues because of their lack of reading and writing ability. RTS is striving to educate health care providers to better serve these individuals, while also equipping these individuals to better function in the health care community."

Read To Succeed plans to hold these forums throughout the year.

If you have any questions, please contact Shelly Stanley, 738-7323, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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The highly-anticipated movie based on The Hunger Games is less than two weeks from its premiere, and Read To Succeed, Linebaugh Library, Greenhouse Minitries and United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties are giving the community a chance to celebrate.

On March 22 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Read To Succeed will host a Hunger Games premiere party at Linebaugh Library before the movie’s midnight premiere. Guests needs to bring a can of food for Greenhouse Ministries for admittance to the party. The more cans you bring, the more chances you have to win a door prize.

The party will feature a Hunger Games costume contest, a trivia contest, and food, along with providing canned food for Greenhouse Ministries.

And on Saturday, March 24, Read To Succeed is teaming up with Premiere 6 Theater in Murfreesboro to collect more food for Greenhouse. At 10 am, Premiere 6 will have an exclusive showing of the movie for people who bring a can of food for Greenhouse (in addition to the lowest ticket price). At 2 p.m., bringing a can of food for Greenhouse will also secure you the lowest ticket price to The Hunger Games.

“The Hunger Games has been a great conversation starter for readers of all ages this year,” said Laura Beth Payne, One Book co-chair. “Now the movie is just one more way to engage our community in discussions about ideas. We're thrilled to partner with local theaters to celebrate The Hunger Games as well as raise awareness about meeting needs in Rutherford County through Greenhouse Ministries and the mission of Read To Succeed.

The Hunger Games novels have been sweeping through Rutherford County like wildfire the past few months. The young adult novels are among the bestselling fiction in recent years and this year’s One Book choice for the community.

Each year, Read To Succeed’s One Book of Rutherford County program challenges residents to join together to read a chosen book. This year's selection is the bestselling adventure novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. One Book is a collaboration of Read To Succeed, Ingram Content Group, Linebaugh Library, Barnes & Noble, Greenhouse Ministries and United Way to promote reading and literacy in Rutherford County.

For more information on One Book, Read To Succeed, and The Hunger Games, visit readtosucceed.org or call 615-738-READ.

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Rutherford County non-profit Read To Succeed has named J. Paul Vaughan, former director of the Jennings & Rebecca Jones Foundation, the recipient of the Karen Claud Literacy Award. Each year, Read To Succeed honors an outstanding person of the Rutherford County community whose untiring efforts have increased opportunities for citizens to enjoy the written word.

“This award recognizes a commitment to the belief that literacy is the cornerstone of our enduring freedom,” said Lisa Mitchell, Read To Succeed Executive Director. “The education of our community has always been at the forefront of Paul Vaughan’s work, and his commitment to providing the best possible educational opportunities is inspirational. This is the exact behavior for which the Karen Claud Literacy Award was created.”

Through the Jennings & Rebecca Jones Foundation, Vaughn has supported educational initiatives in Rutherford County for 26 years. He has helped support new programs and services for students at Middle Tennessee State University, Rutherford County Schools, and Murfreesboro County Schools. Mitchell also said that pre-school age children through adult learners have benefitted from his work at places like the Discovery Center, the YMCA, Special Kids, and Read To Succeed.

Rutherford County School’s Elizabeth Church said that Vaughan has always been and continues to be “a champion for literacy.”

Mitchell added that Vaughan has a “faith in the power of people to make a difference in the lives of others, nurturing literacy and educational programs now considered ‘institutions’ in our community.”

This award was created by the Read To Succeed Council in 2006 to honor Karen Claud. Claud worked as Administrative Assistant for Read To Succeed from September 2003 through the fall of 2004. She then created and directed the Read To Succeed Adult Literacy Program, managing a large community council and recruiting and training volunteers to teach adult learners.  In 2006, Claud was called upon, without notice, to assume the responsibilities of Executive Director for Read To Succeed.  She assumed the new responsibilities with no hesitation and with full commitment to the initiative.  With minimal regard for her own needs, Claud worked tirelessly and professionally at all times to administer two large literacy councils, manage numerous events and programs, and even begin new projects.  Her eye was always on creating literacy opportunities in the community.

Claud said she believes Vaughan thinks of the bigger picture and greater good of our community.

“His ability to pay it forward through his philosophical approach to giving and living has been a blessing to Rutherford County,” she said. “His kindness, generosity and service to the community is done quietly and without expectations for honor or recognition, but he is so deserving of a bigger way to say thank you for all that he has done for not just the literacy community, but making Rutherford County a better community.”

Past winners of the Karen Claud Literacy Award include Murfreesboro City School Director Dr. Linda Gilbert, Cliff Sharp of Greenhouse Ministries, retired MTSU educator Mary Tom Berry, and John Key of Smyrna’s Community Servants.

Read To Succeed gives out several other awards each year at its Volunteer Luncheon in April, which have included Learner of the Year, Council Member of the Year, Family Literacy Volunteer of the Year, Community Volunteer of the Year, Murfreesboro City School of the Year, Rutherford County School of the Year, Corporate Sponsor of the Year, and Community Partner of the Year.

Read To Succeed and Linebaugh Library are hosting a Literacy Forum Monday February 6 in an effort to create a ongoing conversation about the issue in our community.

Held at Linebaugh Library from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., the forum will include a panel discussion between Shelly Stanley, Adult Literacy Coordinator for Read To Succeed, Carol Ghattas, Linebaugh Library, Stuart Bernstein, professor at MTSU, and Rachel Cornett, a phD student studying literacy and teacher at Wilson Elementary.

The forum, funded by a grant from Middle Tennessee Electric Customers Care, invites community members to participate in the discussion and offer input for improving literacy. Forty-four percent of adults in Rutherford County read at or below the average third grade level, and 10 percent read at or below the first grade level.

“This is a chance to give input on what you think should be done,” said Shelly Stanley. “Literacy is such a multi-faceted issue in Rutherford County. We need collaboration between all kinds of people to make change.”

The forum is free for all participants. Refreshments and door prizes will be provided.

For more information on the forum and literacy in Rutherford County, call 615-738-READ or visit readtosucceed.org.

Each day, Americans spend almost three hours watching TV. People ages 15 to 24 spend only seven minutes of their daily leisure time reading.

For a week, let’s try to change that.

Sometime during February 12 through February 18, local literacy non-profit Read To Succeed is challenging the community to unplug from electronics and read a book. The sixth annual UNPLUG & Read! event was created by Read To Succeed to promote the importance of literacy in Rutherford County. It only takes an hour of family reading time during UNPLUG & Read! week to accomplish the program’s mission.

“All we want is for people to take a little bit of time during the week to focus on how important it is to read a book,” said Lisa Mitchell, Read To Succeed Executive Director. “We’re all so busy these days; it’s easy to forget how nice it can be to turn off the television and have the whole family pick up a book.”

The statistics are staggering: in Rutherford County, 10 percent of adults lack the most basic literacy skills. 44% read at or below the third grade level.

“UNPLUG & Read! is one of Read To Succeed’s many programs aimed at improving literacy in our community,” Mitchell said.  “Reading is important to many different parts of our daily lives and this event allows the community to focus on that importance for an entire week.”

Show your support for UNPLUG & Read! Visit readtosucceed.org/unplug.htm to pledge your time to read during the week of February 12 through 18. You can pledge 10 minutes of reading time, an hour or two or three, or your family, organization, or business can get together and pledge hours as a group.

For more information on Read To Succeed and UNPLUG & Read!, or to share your group’s plan for the week of February 12 through 18, please visit readtosucceed.org or call 615-738-READ.

Join us for a music-filled evening as we Unplug and Read with Rik Gracia.

Families don’t miss this night as we team up with Read to Succeed.  Unplug from the televisions, computers, and video games and enjoy a night out with your family.   We will be serving some of our delicious bird friendly coffee that will be perfect to sip on while enjoying live music and the company of friends new and old.  For all ages on Saturday, February 18^th the doors open at 5:30 for preconcert activities. Music is 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. inside the Wilderness Station.  The event is free.

Richard ‘Rik’ Gracia is a local musician who enjoys playing music in nearby restaurants, cafes and at special events in the surrounding area. Timeless easy listening classics from the 50’s to the 80’s are his favorites, and he has a special passion for keeping the old tunes alive and sharing them with each and every generation young and old.  Rik is a retired Air Force Photographer and has lived here in Murfreesboro with his wife and four children since 1998.

For more information, please contact Rachel Singer at 217-3017 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Hunger Games has been spreading across Rutherford County like Katniss’ mockingjay pin infiltrated all the Districts in Panem.

And if that doesn’t make sense to you, maybe it’s time for you to get a copy of Read To Succeed’s One Book selection for this year.

Each year, Read To Succeed’s One Book of Rutherford County program challenges residents to join together to read a chosen book. This year's selection is the bestselling adventure novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. One Book is a collaboration of Read To Succeed, Ingram Content Group, Linebaugh Library, Barnes & Noble, Greenhouse Ministries and United Way to promote reading and literacy in Rutherford County.

This year’s pick is a page-turner, and its appeal to multiple age groups is part of the reason Read To Succeed chose it for One Book.

And the book has already been passed around all over the county: Jennifer Smith, United Way Community Impact Coordinator, said that her co-workers have all been excited to share the book with each other (she read the book herself in nearly one sitting, unable to put it down). At Spring Valley Apartments, Learning Center Director Brenda Kerr said she’s passed her copy of the book on to the apartments’ office manager and several residents. Almost every day, she said, someone asks if they can borrow a copy. Andy Mitchell, a local postal employee, said he put a few copies in the post office’s break room and was surprised how quickly they were snatched up.

“So many employees read The Hunger Games with their families over the holidays,” Mitchell said. “People are reading this book who tell me they haven’t picked up a book in years.”

Laura Beth Payne, an English professor at MTSU and One Book co-chair, said she thinks the book has pulled the community together in remarkable ways.

“People of all ages are excited about reading,” Payne said, “and they’re talking about ideas from the book and their impact on everyday life. That’s exactly what we want to happen.”

Thanks to a donation from Ingram Content Group, Read To Succeed has distributed hundreds of free copies of The Hunger Games around the community. So if you see a copy lying on the table at your doctor’s office, coffee shop, or even in Linebaugh Library’s Bookmobile, don’t just pass it by. Pick it up, read it, and, then, pass it on.

These copies are free and will be marked with a One Book sticker on the front.  Inside each book, readers indicate where the book was found, their name, and the date.  The book then gets passed on or placed around town for someone else to find.

To make the exchange even more enticing, each person can log their book in at readtosucceed.org/onebook.htm.  This will enter them to win one of two $20 gift cards to Barnes & Noble.

Payne said the Book Crossing is another way to keep The Hunger Games conversation going, and to allow fans of the book to share the experience of reading with someone else.

Read To Succeed chose to partner with Greenhouse Ministries to promote this particular novel. Greenhouse Ministries provides assistance with food, clothing, job skill training, adult education classes and counseling for thousands of Murfreesboro residents each year, serving a core local need that the characters in The Hunger Games are all too familiar with. Through the late spring, Read To Succeed’s One Book and Greenhouse will be partnering on food and clothing drives, as well as Greenhouse’s landmark VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) Program, a free service that will aide qualifying local residents in claiming their tax refund dollars. For more information on VITA, please call Greenhouse Ministries at (615) 494-0499 or United Way at(615) 893-7303.

How many times has a teacher given you or your child a reading assignment? From kindergarten through college, students are handed a never-ending laundry list of books to read. And these books are important – most of them are, in fact, great, enduring pieces of literature.

But Read To Succeed is asking 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders to turn the tables. The Rutherford County literacy non-profit wants to know what middle-school students would pick as a reading assignment for their peers.

The first annual Read To Succeed Write Now Essay Contest is accepting submissions through March 5. Essays should be 500 to 700 words long and submitted through http://readtosucceed.org/writenow or e-mailed to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

One winner will receive a $100 savings bond from MidSouth Bank, and one runner-up will receive a $50 savings bond from MidSouth Bank. Both the winner and runner-up will have their essays featured in The Daily News Journal. The top ten essays will be published in a ‘zine, distributed to the top ten entrants and their schools.

The judges for this contest include Sarah Porterfield, AmeriCorps VISTA for Read To Succeed, Jimmy Hart, the executive editor of The Daily News Journal, Dr. Jennifer Kates, writing professor at Middle Tennessee State University, Sandra Pineault, Read To Succeed volunteer and former teacher, and Andrea Hill, from MidSouth Bank.

So tell Read To Succeed what book should be required reading for all middle-schoolers. We’re not just talking about your favorite book—we mean the book that would bring something new or special to the lives of your fellow students. Think about the values, the lessons and the messages in the book.

Winners will be announced in April, and the winner and runner-up will be recognized at the 2011 Read To Succeed Read To Bee.