Read-Along is a Home Run

Nationals player shares the magic of books with Amidon-Bowen students 

(Washington, DC) — A surprise visit and read-along from Washington Nationals reserve catcher Riley Adams demonstrated to third-grade students at Amidon-Bowen Elementary School that reading is fundamental.  

The book, “Just Like Josh Gibson,” gave students some insight into a legend of baseball and a piece of the city’s history.  

Adams told the scholars there are lots of reasons to enjoy reading, “Some books teach you about history, some books tell you great stories.” He added that he loved reading books about baseball players growing up, because he wanted to be like them. 

The read-along was held in partnership with Everybody Wins DC, a nonprofit that provides one-on-one mentoring, read-aloud events, and free book distributions to engage young people in the joys of reading. 

“Today was a great opportunity to bring our partners together to support our literacy initiatives,” said Amidon-Bowen’s principal, Bruce Jackson. “Reading is so fundamental to whatever our students want to do. It’s a great habit to build, and we know it will help them succeed now and in the future.” 

“We want to create moments where kids are just overjoyed by the idea of books,” said Everybody Wins DC Executive Director Jordi Hutchinson. “Having someone from the Washington Nationals come in and read a book creates those moments. They think ‘I’m going to read that book, because Riley read it to me.’ Now they get to have that book on their shelves, see it, and remember that excitement.”  

“When kids are excited about reading, they read more. When they read more, they do better in school and life,” Hutchinson added. 

Tia Blount, instructional coach for literacy at Amidon-Bowen, was thrilled to see the event come together. She sees the partnerships with both Everybody Wins and the Nationals as invaluable to her students. “It’s important for our students to see how much the community and the city embraces them, and have the city come into their school and really make that community to school connection.” 

In addition to the read-along, Amidon-Bowen also received a donation of 300 books, which they announced at their annual Literacy Night.