Volunteers Bring ‘Bunny Cakes’ to Life for Read for the Record Day in Mobile County Schools

Volunteers fanned out across elementary schools in Mobile County on a Tuesday morning, taking part in a nationwide literacy push known as “Read for the Record,” which encourages young students to see reading as something to look forward to rather than a classroom chore.

This year’s featured book was “Bunny Cakes” by Rosemary Wells, a children’s story following rabbit siblings Max and Ruby as they prepare a surprise for their grandmother’s birthday. At some schools, volunteers read the story aloud using a smartboard so the pages could be displayed on a large screen for the whole class to see at once.

Several schools built activities around the book’s theme of baking, tying reading time to hands-on projects. At Mary B. Austin Elementary, students made their own cakes to mark the occasion, connecting the story’s plot to a classroom activity the kids could take part in themselves.

At Shepard Elementary School in west Mobile, volunteers included staff from the school system’s central office, a member of the school board, and a local business owner from a nearby flower shop who partners with the school throughout the year. The school’s librarian, who wore bunny ears to mark the occasion, said every grade level took part, with volunteers reading “Bunny Cakes” aloud to classrooms throughout the day.

Even older students who might normally consider themselves past picture books didn’t seem to mind hearing the story, according to school staff, with the smartboard displays and group reading format helping keep the format engaging across grade levels.

Schools throughout Mobile County took part in the event, including Booth Elementary in Bayou La Batre, where a first-grade class also joined in the reading, and Dickson Elementary, where teachers dressed as their favorite storybook characters to mark the day. Mobile County Public Schools Superintendent Martha Peek visited multiple campuses throughout the morning to see the program in action.

About Read for the Record

Read for the Record is an annual campaign run by Jumpstart, a national early-education nonprofit, in which children and adults across the country read the same book on the same day. “Bunny Cakes,” one of Rosemary Wells’ books about the rabbit siblings Max and Ruby, was the campaign’s selected title that year.