How can one small girl with a messy room and a lot of attitude help children and families read together at home?

By introducing a character that is fun, engaging and very relatable.

Napoleon Dynamite producer, Sean Covel hopes to bring more reading into thousands of homes.

“Porter The Hoarder” is the creation of three South Dakota natives. Sean Covel is originally from Edgemont. The illustrator, Rebecca Swift, is a famed make-up artist who grew up in Yankton and the graphic artist, Laurel Antonmarchi, hails from Armour. About the book, Covel says “As South Dakotans, we are deeply proud that all of this began in our home state.”

With the help of the Statewide Family Engagement Center and United Way Black Hills Reads, many schools across South Dakota will distribute free books to first graders during the week of Sept. 16. First graders from Belle Fourche to Beresford, Yankton to Aberdeen and so many in between will be bringing home a shiny, new book to read with the “bigs” in their lives. By eliminating costs with a free, fun and easy-to-read book, Covel and his partners hope more families will read with their young ones at home.

“We love Porter. And we love seeing new families enjoy her every day,” shares Covel.

In addition to giving out free books, Sean Covel and Rebecca Swift will be visiting classrooms and hosting book signings during the launch week in Brookings, Aberdeen, Yankton and Sioux Falls, with more events coming up this fall in locations across the state including Faith, Rapid City and Oglala Lakota County.

To learn more about the project and a list of events, persons may visit sdsfec.org.