To its critics, Reader’s Digest has long been a corny compendium of real-life survival stories, “points to ponder” and suggestions for self-improvement (such as how to enrich your vocabulary, or “word power”). Nothing seemed quite so symbolic of its advocacy of suburban family values, meanwhile, as the company’s move from Manhattan to the village of Pleasantville in New York State. Typical of the magazine’s hostility to communism was the publication in 1941 of an essay by Max Eastman-a political activist who once revered Karl Marx-with the memorable title “Socialism Doesn’t Jibe with Human Nature”. The name is synonymous, too, with right-of-centre politics. Or if not that, mailshots for prize draws, promising “the sooner you reply, the more money you could win”. Within seven years they had more than 200,000 subscribers-a figure that would eventually grow to 18m, in 22 languages and across 40 countries.Ī century on from that debut, and almost 1,200 issues later, to say the words Reader’s Digest is to conjure an image of idle moments in dentists’ waiting rooms. Additional support is provided by BIC stationery products.Undeterred, Wallace set up in a Greenwich Village basement, alongside his wife, Lila Acheson Wallace, and with occasional help from the patrons of the speakeasy upstairs. The Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge is sponsored nationally by Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats. A television special based on the national event will be broadcast on NBC stations this summer, hosted by quizmaster Al Roker of NBC’s “Today Show.”īased on the popular “Word Power” column in Reader’s Digest Magazine, the most widely read magazine in the world, the Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge is an educational outreach program of Reader’s Digest Association, Inc. Top grade level winners advanced to the state competition and State champions and their teacher escorts receive an all-expense-paid trip to the National Championship at the Renaissance Orlando Resort at SeaWorld. More than two million students and thousands of schools have participated in the Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge, an in school skill building program. She counts “Squire” by Tamora Pierce as her favorite. She began reading at the age of four and finished over 100 books last year. 13-year-old Mary Willis, whose favorite word is onomatopoeia, spends an average of 15 hours reading every week. In contrast to a spelling bee that quizzes students on the spelling of words, the National Word Power Challenge tests students’ understanding of what words mean. “A strong vocabulary and love of reading is vital to success in life, and this word champion is off to a great start.” “In a word, this student’s achievement is superlative,” said Kathleen Bordelon, executive director of the Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge.
Mary Willis, a student at Osceola Middle School, will join the top winners from all 50 states to battle for the national title and $50,000 in college scholarships at the 2007 National Championship in Orlando, Florida, May 14-15.
PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y., March 20 /PRNewswire/ - An eighth-grader from Osceola yesterday won the Wisconsin State Championship in the fifth annual Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge, America’s premier vocabulary competition.
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