This coming Saturday is National Readathon Day! What is National Readathon Day? Well, Penguin Random House, GoodReads, and Mashable have teamed up to create this event to promote reading and raise money for the National Book Foundation for their ongoing fight to promote reading and literature and end illiteracy in America. In our connected society it can be hard to believe but, according to the Readathon page, the numbers are pretty staggering: 40% of American adults are either at or below basic reading proficiency, nearly half, and 14% are fully illiterate.

The good news is you can help combat illiteracy and promote reading by getting involved! All you have to do is read! Sign up with FirstGiving and set up your sponsorship page then get your friends and family to help by sponsoring you (and leave a link in the comments so we can!) or do what I did and sponsor someone else. Then this Saturday, January 24th between 2pm—4pm (in your respective time zone) hunker down and get lost in a book. You’re going to do it anyway, so why not put in a little effort and raise some money for the cause? Together we can help the National Book Foundation promote reading, end illiteracy, and we can get some reading done.