Jumpstart global reading program “Read For the Record” has chosen a children’s book by local author Liz Wong as its selected read this season.

Jumpstart is a nationally recognized early education program “working toward the day every child enters kindergarten prepared to succeed. The organization provides language, literacy, and social-emotional programming for preschool children from under-resourced communities and promote quality early learning for all children.”

Read For the Record will take place in classrooms, libraries and other book friendly environments globally on Oct. 19, 2017. Read for the Record is the world’s largest shared reading experience—bringing together over 2 million people to read the same book on the same day.

Read For the Record began as a United States campaign over a decade ago to bring attention to inequities in early childhood education in United States’ classrooms, and as a way to inspire adults to read with children, spur policymakers and organizations to take action towards transformative change in early education, and put books in the hands of more children across the nation.

According to Random House Children’s Book division head, Barbara Marcus, “Quackers is a perfect book to celebrate inclusion and friendship in an amusing cat-out-of-water tale.”

“Quackers” is a cat that thinks he is a duck. Why wouldn’t he, after all? He lives at the duck pond, and everyone he encounters acknowledges his “duckness”. However, Quackers isn’t sure why he has trouble with certain “duckiness” traits like communicating or enjoying dinner options until he meets “Mittens”, who introduces him to chasing mice and drinking milk.

My Edmonds News and Artfully Edmonds congratulates Liz Wong on this laudable achievement. “Quackers” (Knopf, 36 p.) is available at Edmonds Bookshop (111 5^th Ave. S.)

— By Emily Hill