Read your way to the ballpark

Read around the bases

Stop the presses! Summer vacation has arrived, Playing games and sports is a great way to exercise your body during the summer, so you can be strong and healthy for the next school year. Keeping your mind strong and healthy is important, too. The best way to exercise your brain is by reading.

The Tampa Bay Rays baseball players know the importance of staying healthy and strong and keeping your mind active. That is why the Rays have partnered with the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper in Education program, the Hillsborough Public Library Cooperative, the Manatee County Library System, the Pasco County Library Cooperative and the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative to encourage and reward students for reading.

If you do not already have your "Reading with the Rays" NIE publication, you can pick one up at one of your libraries. In order to participate in this great reading program, you will need to get your game card at your library.

The rules of the Read Your Way to the Ballpark game are simple. Choose your favorite books from your local library or select your favorite section of the St. Petersburg Times to read over the summer. As you read, track your hours by rounding the bases and collect Rays rewards along the way.

We want to know what you are reading, so be sure to come back to the NIE Blogging Zone often to share your thoughts about the books you are reading your way to the ballpark with. Just click on the comment button below to get started.

Comments

[Caitlyn L]

My name is Caitlyn, I turned 9 years old in May moved from TN to Plant City over the summer. I love the Bruton library here, it made my summer really great. I read The dolphin Diaries series, books 1-12, I really like dolphins and mystery so they were good books to read. I read so many other books too. I got to spend alot of time with my gram this summer while my mom was in the hospital and we watched the devil rays games together on tv, I am so glad to have tickets and get to go to the game. Thank you for reading with the rays, my gram's favorite player is Evan longoria mine too, hope we can see him!

[Zane VanNordstrand]

Zane again. For the Hotspot Activity I wanted to tell you I like going to the Rays games, playing baseball, swimming, and playing with my friends outside. Anything outside is fine with me.

Zane

[Zane VanNordstrand]

I read The Boy Who Only Hit Homeruns by Matt Christopher. I liked it because it was all about baseball which I love. It was a very good book and I even got another one by Matt Christopher. I think Reading with the Rays is awesome.

Zane
7 years old

[Ella]

I read Haunting of Hathaway House because I like to read stories about ghosts and haunted places. Sam,Joe
David,(teenagers)Wanda(adult)and Wishbone went to a house that Wanda inherited from a relative that had died. Everyone had said it was haunted.They thought it was haunted to until,.......They found that it was a JOKE!
Read it to find out what happens next.
:)

[Nicole Libell]

I read "The Misadventures of Madue March"

[Cameron Pfiester 7 years old]

I read Johnny Appleseed. I learned about that johnny Appleseed plant an apple tree. Johnny appleseed had a bear that was his friend.

[Raquel Libell]

I read The Winter Road.A 17yearold named Willa was flying her uncle's plane when a storm hit.The plane crashed in the middle of Canada int the mittle of winter.She stayed by the crash site for 3 days.Three search planes flew above the crash site.Then she decedied she had to leave the crash site and go find civilatation.Before she left, she made snowshoes, a fish trap, and a shovel. Three days after she left, she was almost out of food.15 days after the crash, she comes across 5 wolves eating a dead moose.Willa scares the wolves away with a small fire a gets the rest of the meat.Two days after that a bizzard comes in and stops her from traveling.When the blizzard is gone she leaves the igloo that she built.One hour after she leaves she finds civilatation.Two kind men thake her to there home to call the police to tell them that the missing piolate was found.

[Grace Currie]

Hi my name is Grace. I am participating in the Reading With The Rays activity. The book that I am reading is called Superfudge by Judy Blume. This book is when Peter and Fudge have to move to Princeton,New Jersey. Peter the oldest didn't think it was the greatest idea but they had to go because his dad has to publish or write a book on something. In the end is the bestest part so read the story to find out what happens. If you are wondering how long it took me to finish the book, it was about 5 days. So I really enjoy this book hope you do too.

[Cameron Pfiester 7 years old]

I read building with Dad.The boy helped dads mechanic. we count all her wrenches and watch as the backhoe dig,s long pipeline trenches.

[Cameron Pfiester]

I read make way for ducklings.I liked when the ducklings learn to swim.The big ducks flew all over town looking for a nest.

[Oak Park Elem #1 Students]

I read Golf by John Gordon
First on the golf field there is the bank, river, green and rough. The bank is white sand. The river is water. The rough is like a grass brush, near the green. The green is color of gold.
A golfer wears a cap, gloves, pants, hat, and sleeve shirt. The super stars are the champions of golf. They work hard to be the champions.

Quavi, 3rd Grade

[Oak Park Elem #1 Students]

I read Soccer by George Fischer.
First they talked about the feld. It is like a triangle. Everything on the field is a triangle.
They talked about the goalie. The goalie wears a cap, shorts, sleeved shirts, gloves, and soccer shoes.
The book talked about soccer players. There are middlefielders, forwards, goalies, and defensive ends.

Quavi, 3rd grade

[Zachary E.]

I read Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors. It is the 4th book in the Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo. In this book, Charlie wants to go to the Castle of Mirrors with Billy Raven in hopes to find his Charlie's father. Billy is the true heir to the Castle. They do not Charlie's father but find Yondala's father. Charlie travels into the brick of magic that is a picture of all the magical ancestors that lived in the castle and almost gets killed. The good endowed children are slowly outnumbering the bad endowed. But Charlie still hasn't found his father. Uncle Payton finally found a home and parents for Billy. I am looking forward to reading book 5 in this series. I give this book and A.

[Zachary E.]

I read Star Jumper: Journal of the Cardboard Genius by Frank Asch. Alex is a cardboard inventor. He wanted to make a spaceship out of cardboard because he wanted to get away from his chatty little brother. He also creates an atom slider which makes him go through matter by slideing between atoms, a Duplicator that makes more than one of him, and a microblaster that shrinks things. At the end, he realizes that home is better than space but he continues to invent things. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the Star Jumper series. I give this book an B+.

[Joshua E.]

I read the Christopher Churchmouse Treasury because I like books about mice like Ralph S. Mouse. It was a very good book because it taught you a lesson in every story. My favorite story in it was The Shiny Red Sled. It taught me a big lesson about forgiveness. A mouse named Ted said that he would guard his friend, Christopher's sled while he was gone. When Christopher was gone Ted accidentally made a big scratch on his brand new sled when he ran into a tree. Christopher and Ted had an arguement and left angry. Later, Ted broke his leg on another sled. But Christopher went to his friend's rescue and used the scratched sled to carry Ted to safety.
Tell me what your favorite story is in the Christopher Churchmouse Treasury! I give this book an A.