Wendover Middle School 6th-grader, Macy, picked “Maggie” for the “Reading Without Walls” program. “I’d never read a book about Kansas before,” she said.

GREENSBURG, PA — For the past four years at Wendover Middle School, the "Reading Without Walls" program has become a page-turning adventure not just for students, but for everyone in the building, including teachers and staff. The national reading program was created to inspire empathy and understanding of different people and perspectives, and to nurture a love of reading. Since the program began at Wendover, some 600 participants have read more than 650 titles. That's enough books to create a stack high enough for everyone to get an unrestricted view of a world beyond their everyday experience.

Grant Overstake was delighted to see the tweet showing Maggie alongside these amazing books!

The Reading Without Walls program challenges readers to do three things: Read a book about a character who doesn't look like them or live differently from them; Read a book about a topic they don't know much about; and, Read a book in a format they don't usually read for fun, such as a graphic novel, a book in verse, or an audiobook.

Beth McGuire, a busy school librarian, has been promoting the "Reading Without Walls" program for the past four years. She is the coach of the Wendover Book Spartans and the Westmoreland Interscholastic Reading competition teams. Additionally, she manages the Twitter account @hasd_wenib for the Wendover Middle School Library.

This past week, McGuire drew 6th grader Macy, 7th grader Ella, 8th grader Colby, and teacher Mrs. Gacek to the winner's circle in her nine-week program. The winners submitted their favorite books:

Mrs. Gacek read "The Light We Carry" by Michelle Obama, a book that shares coping strategies for surviving stress and uncertainty. Colby read "Point Guard" by Mike Lupica, a book about a girl who is a great athlete and whether she should play on a boys' basketball team. Ella read "The Carnivorous Carnival" by Lemony Snicket, the ninth novel in the children's novel series "A Series of Unfortunate Events."

And, drum roll please... Macy read "Maggie Vaults Over the Moon" by Grant Overstake – an inspiring YA novel about a Kansas farm girl's daring quest to master the sport of pole-vaulting. Overstake, who hails from the heart of Kansas, was delighted to see the tweet with his book in such good company, showing that anything is possible for Maggie Steele.

Macy said, “I've never really read a book that took place in Kansas, and I never read a book about a person who was a pole-vaulter,” adding, “I feel that my friends would really like the book because it starts sad at the beginning and gets happy at the end.”

“Maggie is popular here!” says Wendover’s own Dr. Melissa White, the co-author who created chapter questions for Maggie Vaults Over the Moon.

A work of young adult fiction, the story of a gritty farm girl has stirred the hopes and dreams of readers around the world, especially among tweens and younger teens. Now published as a classroom reader, the book includes group discussion questions created by Wendover Middle School's own Dr. Melissa White, a certified ELA and SEL teacher and high school track coach, who discovered a book about pole-vaulting, introduced it to her athletes, watched them soar; then wrote questions for each chapter based on the principles of mental performance consulting, guiding on a social and emotional level, so readers are obtaining life skills and learning empathy for others as they experience Maggie's courageous journey in the heartland.

The novel, named one of the best track and field stories of all time by CITIUS MAG, has earned a global following of devoted fans of the story, because it’s set in farmland, because it immerses readers in a family drama, because it has a great role model, who goes sky high for pole-vaulting. Like readers everywhere, Dr. White says the book resonates with folks in Hempfield Township, Pennsylvania as well, exclaiming, “Maggie is popular here, too!"

Macy began reading Maggie Vaults Over the Moon in Dr. White's book club, and the story took her to a place far, far away from the rolling hills and valleys of Westmoreland County. In her everyday travels, Macy sees surroundings marked by rugged terrain, lush forests, tranquil streams, and farmland, travel guide photos of the diverse and scenic beauty of Pennsylvania's Appalachian Mountains.

In the pages of Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, Macy was transported to different setting, a vast expanse of flat terrain that stretches out for miles, with nothing but the wheat fields and sky to be seen. A place where a teenager called Maggie and her family experience a heartbreaking loss that forever alters their lives on a wheat farm passed down from generations.

And as she read, Macy was asked to consider the thoughts and feelings of the characters and she learned how to empathize with someone in real life who might be feeling a painful sadness that doesn't go away. She saw Maggie cry and learned that it's okay to feel sad and that it's good to have someone to talk to, like Grandma. The story also taught her about drying her eyes, getting back up, and trying brave new things, such as driving a grain truck, or daring sport she had never tried before.

In the book Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, which she read as part of the Reading Without Walls program, Macy learned that even in challenging times, there are good people all around us, and that by embracing perseverance and listening to our inner voice, we can achieve great things beyond our wildest dreams - things that are truly over the moon!

Take the Reading Without Walls challenge!

It’s easy to participate in Reading Without Walls! Just find something new and different to read — and let the books open up the world around you.

What can YOU do to read without walls?

1. Read a book about a character who doesn’t look like you or live like you.

2. Read a book about a topic you don’t know much about.

3. Read a book in a format that you don’t normally read for fun a chapter book, a graphic novel, a book in verse, or an audio book.

Enjoy the audio by the amazing Tavia Gilbert!

The audiobook version of the story is a great listening experience, solo, or in the classroom, with a spellbinding performance by Audie Award Winner and Female Narrator of the Year, Tavia Gilbert. Learn More and Order here.

‘Maggie’ is this Winner’s Choice for the ‘Reading Without Walls Program’ at Wendover Middle School!