Dear Editor,
I wanted to take a moment to reflect on our One District-One Book project that we just completed and all I can say is, wow! Job well done!  
I never dreamed that one little hamster could generate so much excitement and enthusiasm for reading, but then Humphrey is one special hamster!
I want to say a big thank you to our ODOB chair, Tricia Reiser, for the fantastic job she did in leading this initiative. Also, a huge thank you goes to Jennifer Schartz, who helped coordinate so many things about this project from the district perspective and Dayna Ball, the Great Bend Public Library Children’s librarian, who coordinated the community events.  
Thank you’s also go out to our steering committee and all the many volunteers who helped plan, work and implement this program across our community. The great support of our business community was vital in this process as well.
Also, we could not have pulled this off without the efforts and support of our teachers and local board of education. Lastly, a big thank you goes to our parents and students for their enthusiasm and commitment to reading together each night at home.
This quality family time, centered on this book and a celebration of literacy is really what this whole event was about. Thanks to everyone for the great success that it was!
Although we are finished with our ODOB project for this year, I hope that parents and their children will not stop reading together. This was the whole point of this project – to make literacy a priority in our schools, homes and community.  
Let’s share a little time each day reading with our kids. This simple act will greatly enrich the fabric of our families and the quality of our children’s lives.   
I can hardly wait until next fall when we will share another book together as a family and community. I wonder what book it will be?  What the characters will be like? What exciting twists and turns it will have contained in its pages? What kinds of discussions it will generate between parents and their children?
Yes, I can hardly wait!  How about you?
Brad Reed
USD 428 Superintendent of Schools