Students and teachers at Nottawasaga-Creemore Public School (NCPS) participated in the Family Literacy Day World Record Attempt on Friday, an event organized by ABC Canada.

The exercise, which involved children and adults across the country reading together for 30 minutes in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for Most Children Reading with an Adult in Multiple Locations, was a prelude to Family Literacy Day on Jan. 27.

Family Literacy Day was founded 11 years ago by ABC Canada – a 19-year-old private sector organization that champions adult literacy – and Honda Canada to promote the importance of reading.

Munschworks 2, published by Annick Press and featuring five classic Robert Munsch stories, was chosen by ABC Canada as the book to be read during the record-breaking attempt last week.

Munsch, a big literacy advocate, is the honourary chair of Family Literacy Day.

ABC Canada reports that an estimated 158,000 participants at 900 events across the country took part in the world record attempt. NCPS says it had 194 people reading.

The last world record was set by the United States in 2006, when 78,791 children and adults read together, ABC said.

NCPS school council member Ruth McArthur and teacher-librarian Carolyn Pike organized the attempt made in Creemore last week.

“It was very cool to stand in the hallway and hear the teachers reading the same story at the same time. It was like an echo,” Pike said.

A stipulation attached to the event was that an independent witness be present. As a result, NCPS had volunteers from the community and school council on hand.

An official recording of the number of students and teachers reading must be submitted to the Guinness World Book by Feb. 6.

For more information about ABC Canada or Family Literacy Day visit www.abc-canada.org.