Celebrity Readers share love of books with kids
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Members of the community came together Wednesday to help spread their love of reading with children at East Side Elementary and West Side Primary schools in Harrisburg.
Celebrity Reader day has been a favorite of kids for so long no one can quite remember who started the program, but organizer Sharon Bittle said they had another successful year.
Cynthia Overstreet dressed up in a shawl and hat to help bring alive the turn-of-the-century characters in the book she read to Jane Russell's fourth grade class, "Peppe the Lamplighter."
Police Officer Whipper Johnson showed up to East Side in full uniform and an armored vehicle to surprise the kids. His wife, Tricia Johnson, was a Celebrity Reader in Brandie Phelps' fourth grade class.
Many of the readers brought snacks for their class. Kids were seen messily enjoying the Dairy Queen Dilly Bars brought by Taylor Wilson, who read to Carly Angelly's fourth grade class.
There were 25 celebrity readers at East Side Elementary School and 27 celebrity readers at West Side Primary School.
The program is designed to promote reading in young people, as well as offer them a positive role model in the form of a prominent member of the community.