Missouri Newspapers Promote Reading with Annual Youth Project

Young readers across the state will be inside their local newspapers learning and reading about Jim the Wonder Dog through the Reading Across Missouri 2017 project.

Missouri Press Association, the trade organization for Missouri’s newspapers, organizes the annual statewide literacy event. This is the 13th year for the project, which is a unified effort by Missouri’s newspapers to encourage children to start a new year with reading as a top priority.

The Reading Across Missouri 2017 story, “Jim the Wonder Dog,” introduces young readers to the Llewellin Setter from Marshall, MO, who amazed everyone with his ability to follow any command, hunt like a champion and even predict the future.

Was Jim really super smart, or just very well trained? What exactly do animals know, and how much of our language can they truly understand? These questions and more are explored though the story of a unique dog’s remarkable life in “Jim the Wonder Dog.”

The story is eight chapters and is available to all Missouri newspapers. A companion teacher guide, correlated to Missouri’s learning standards, also is provided and is available for download at www.mo-nie.com using the download code teachmo17. To participate in the project, newspapers begin publishing the story sometime during the month of January. Most newspapers will publish one chapter each week for eight consecutive weeks.

Teachers interested in reading the story with students in the classroom should reach out to their local newspapers to encourage them to publish “Jim the Wonder Dog.” The project is available to newspapers at no cost through June 2017, thanks, in part, to a grant from the Marshall Tourism Commission. 

For more information on the Reading Across Missouri project, contact Dawn Kitchell, MPA Education Director, at dawnkitchell@gmail.com or (636) 932-4301.