For the third year in a row, a local children's literacy nonprofit has joined a national effort to encourage adults and young children to read the same book on the same day: On Thursday, schools and day care centers throughout Western New York will join a national project and read "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats.

"We want to break our own local record," said Helene Kramer, executive director of Read to Succeed Buffalo. It is coordinating "Read for the Record" with the event's national nonprofit sponsor "Jumpstart," which counted 2 million young readers for last year's event.

Locally, 14,000 read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" last year, said Kramer. This year, Mayor Byron W. Brown has agreed to read to children. For more information, call Deborah Porter at 843-8895.

"It encourages reading," said Kramer of the event, "and I think it tells children about the value of reading."