Murfreesboro, TN - The director of Linebaugh Library’s Smyrna Branch has September 17 circled on her calendar. For the third year in a row, Carol Kersey is making the trek to her grandson Casey’s school, Stewart Creek Elementary, pulling out a book, and reading to his class.

When he gets big enough to get embarrassed, she says, he might not be so excited about their little tradition. But for now he still looks forward to Reading in the Schools Day every year, for the day when his grandmother comes to his classroom and reads aloud to all his friends.

Read To Succeed’s eighth annual Reading in the Schools Day is coming up on September 17. On that day more than 1,000 classrooms and 24,000 students take a break to listen to volunteer readers. Rutherford County elementary schools, private schools, Murfreesboro City Schools, and local daycare's all participate.

The following day, on September 18, library directors like Kersey will pull out all the stops for the Read To Succeed Reading Rally, which takes place at Linebaugh Library in Murfreesboro, Smyrna Library, and in the La Vergne Library tent during Old Timers’ Day. This midday festival to celebrate the written word is open to the public with no charge and held in three locations simultaneously to allow easy access to all Rutherford County residents. The point is to bring attention to what the libraries have to offer—books, books and more books. But the Rallies also offer moon jumps, storytellers, healthy snacks, door prizes and storybook characters come-to-life.

Read To Succeed Executive Director Ronni Shaw calls Reading in the Schools Day and the Reading Rallies an “anchor,” kicking-off the organization’s many programs throughout the year.

“The start of the school year is a great time to remind students of the fun of reading, to remind parents of the importance of reading to their children, and to remind teachers that the rest of the community is out here to support them,” Shaw says. “We’re all here to say we appreciate what they do everyday.”

Community members show up in droves at schools across the county during Reading in the Schools Day; more than 1,000 people volunteer to read in classrooms. And even before September 17, community volunteers are eager to pitch in, putting together packets of materials for all of the participating schools.

And even when they’re just licking envelopes, the community is supporting literacy awareness.

Each participating school chooses a coordinator to help make the event happen. For La Vergne Lake Elementary, Reading Coach Marie Loyacano volunteered to take that position this year. Loyacano, who specializes in serving literacy needs at her school, is excited to handle the event this year.

“[During Reading in the Schools Day], the kids get to see adults model reading in the classroom.” Loyacano says. “Because everyone needs to read. It’s important for them to see that, to see community members and adults reading, to show them that reading is something you can do everyday. It’s for everyone and everyday.”

These two days in September, right in the middle of all the hub-bub over a new school year, serve as a reminder that cultivating a love of reading is essential to academic and personal success.

As someone who taught for nearly a decade and who spent the next 20 years in the library system, Kersey knows this first-hand.

“Reading is so important,” she says. “I read to my children from the time they came home from the hospital.”

That didn’t stop with her children. As a grandmother, Kersey lines the walls in her own home with books for her grandkids.

“My two and a half year old grandson knows right where the books are in my house,” she says. “He walks right over to them.”

Of course Carter, 7, and CJ love their Wii and their Nintendo DS, too, Kersey says. But they also love their books.

And that’s what Reading in the Schools Day and the Reading Rallies are all about.