Our Lady
Comforter of the Afflicted School
Accredited by the New England Association of Schools & Colleges

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WALTHAM Once upon a time a group of students embarked on a record-breaking mission.

Armed with copies of "The Story of Ferdinand," kids from Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted School met in groups at the library and started reading about the pacifist bull and his unfortunate encounter with a bumble bee.

The Spanish tale by Munro Leaf dates back to 1936 and tells the story of Ferdinand, a bull who would rather smell flowers than compete in bullfights. Yet as the students at Our Lady flipped the pages one thing was on their minds - breaking last year's national record.

The school enrolled in Read for the Record, a reading competition run through Jumpstart, a national nonprofit group that encourages reading. The point of yesterday's program was to break the Guinness World Record for the largest shared reading experience ever. Last year's record was 150,000 people from 47 states who all read "The Little Engine that Could" at the the same time on Aug. 24, 2006.

This was the first year Our Lady joined the endeavor. While most students read silently yesterday, a group of 30 second-graders read aloud with their teachers, Christine Harney and Kathleen Horan.

Harney asked the kids if they noticed something strange about the book. They did - the pictures were drawn in black and white.

"You need to use your imagination to picture what it would look like," Harney said.

Harney also told the group that the book was read by kindergarten teacher Charlotte Malone, whom many of the children are familiar with, when she was young.

"I just liked that it was from when Mrs. Malone was a kid," said Abigail Carlson, 7.

Sean Steede said he liked when a bee attacked Ferdinand and he "went nuts."

And Evelina Phuah said the book's attraction was that the bull refused to fight and "that he just laid down."

"He just smelled the flowers, and all the people that wanted to fight with him got mad," Evelina said.

As an added bonus, the students got to keep their copy of the book. Abigail said she liked feeling part of a nationwide effort. "It's cool because of how many kids actually read this book with us," she said.

Harney said the kids were encouraged too.

"They're really excited because they want to break the record," she said. Horan told the group that she would be submitting the number of students from Our Lady's who participated on the program's Web site by the end of the day.

Principal Chandra Minor said while it's the first year the school has participated in the program, it fits the school's mission which encourages students to make others as fortunate as they are.

"Our children are very fortunate in that we always look for opportunities to give back," she said. "This is a perfect example of living the faith."

Debbie Pandolfi, an Our Lady's parent, helped with the program yesterday. She said her sister-in-law, Tina Pandolfi, was key in organizing it, as she works for Pearson Education, the company which published the book and a sponsor for the program.

"I just think this is a fabulous idea," she said. "It gets children more interested in reading in a more fun and interesting manner."

The program last year also raised more than $500,000. According to its Web site, Jumpstart works with children in low-income communities through sponsors who match donations with sales of the book.

Pearson, the site stated, plans to match online contributions to the program with donations of books to literacy nonprofits worldwide, and is providing supporting materials to teachers, libraries and school districts across the country.

For more information on the Read for the Record program, visit www.readfortherecord.org.

Matt Perkins can be reached at 781-398-8009 or at mperkins@cnc.com.