The Cherry Creek School District is excited to celebrate the joy of reading with Cherry Creek Reads 2025, happening from March 10-14, 2025. This year’s theme, “Read Together, Celebrate Together," invites students, staff, and families to come together to celebrate the power of books and the joy of reading.

 

The featured book for 2025 is A Face is a Poem by Julie Morstad, a beautiful children’s picture book that explores the uniqueness of every face. Through playful and imaginative language, the book encourages readers to observe the details that make each face special—such as freckles, scars, or the shape of eyebrows—and consider how these features tell a story about a person’s identity. The book also sparks curiosity by asking fun questions like, “What if faces could change?” or “What if eyelashes were like butterfly wings?” Most importantly, A Face is a Poem promotes a positive message of acceptance, celebrating the beauty in every face, no matter the differences.

Reading – whether for pleasure, or for a purpose, like school or work – has many benefits. It’s no surprise that reading increases comprehension and vocabulary. In fact, children learn 4,000 to 12,000 new words every year through reading. Research has also shown that reading can increase empathy, ease depression, reduce stress, and improve sleep!

During Cherry Creek Reads 2025, all students, staff, and families are encouraged to read for 68 minutes or more throughout the week. This represents one minute for every Cherry Creek school and symbolizes our district’s commitment to coming together to build a strong reading community. Whether you read alone, with a friend, or as part of a group, the goal is to inspire each other and share in the joy of reading.

 

Thank you to the CCSD Library Leadership Team for organizing this event, and to the Cherry Creek Education Association (CCEA) for donating a book to each school library. Let’s come together to read, celebrate, and create a culture of acceptance and inclusion in our community!