Cat In The Hat And All That

Their town has read more books than your town

It may be enough for most small towns to have that big billboard at the edge of town, broadcasting their claim to fame.

TURF GRASS CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.

But in Tifton, Ga. (pop. 15,000), no one was turning cartwheels, flush with pride. Any day now, a new claim will go up, and when it does, the whole town will party.

The story begins in 1996, when Spencer Elementary School teacher-librarian Terri Nalls had a problem. Her students, 92% of them low income, couldn't read a stop sign let alone a book. She wondered if Mike Brumby, who ran the...

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