Read Across America Day

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Kwame Alexander reads The Crossover to small audience of middle school students accompanied by a female cellist - courtesy of the NEA website

Though NEA’s Read Across America celebrates reading year-round, Read Across America Day on March 2 (and the entirety of National Reading Month) is a special time to call attention to the ongoing efforts of educators across the country who are working to make sure every student can find age-appropriate books in their schools that reflect and respect who they are and also help them appreciate and learn from the stories and experiences of others.

This year, NEA is celebrating Read Across America by bringing music and story together with a special partnership and program celebrating the 10th anniversary of the critically acclaimed best-selling novel in verse, The Crossover. In front of a live audience for the video cameras, poet and author Kwame Alexander is reading aloud the entirety of his award-winning title with accompaniment by jazz bassist Amy Shook.

RAA-The Crossover banner

Five twenty-five-minute videos of this engaging fusion of literature and music will be produced, with one released each day throughout the first week of March on NEA’s YouTube, Facebook, and NEA.org. This will give students across the country an opportunity to experience the rhythm and beat of the story of twin brothers navigating love, loyalty, and family on and off the basketball court in a whole new way!

Readers can tune in for a new episode every day beginning at 8:00 a.m. ET March 3 – 7, 2025. And if 8 a.m. sounds too early…don’t worry; it will play when you want to watch it.

Upcoming Event

Silver oyster shaped jewelrey on a wooden table.

Speaker at the Center: Silversmith Kaminer Haislip, "Charleston Silver, Past to Present"

August 7, 2025, 6:00 PM

Join us at the next installment of the Speaker at the Center series with Charleston silversmith Kaminer Haislip. Haislip's rice spoon was recently added to the Charleston Museum's collection and she has received a grant from SC Humanities to study silver techniques abroad. Kaminer will present a lecture titled Charleston Silver, Past to Present on the history of colonial Charleston silversmithing and how it relates to her contemporary silver designs.