Albany County first-graders get free books at Wyoming Reads celebration
First-graders across Albany County left Wyoming Reads with free books as the statewide program marked its 28th year and reached nearly 6,400 children.
First-graders from Albany County School District #1 left the annual Wyoming Reads celebration with brand-new books in hand, part of a statewide effort that reached nearly 6,400 children in Wyoming’s 23 counties on Tuesday, May 19, 2026.
The district hosted its local celebration as one of the many Wyoming Reads events held across the state, bringing together first-graders from multiple Albany County School District #1 schools for read-aloud stations led by community readers. The day was built around a simple literacy message: every first-grader receives a book to keep, giving young readers something of their own to bring home and open again after the event ends.
Wyoming Reads marked its 28th annual celebration this year. The program began as Casper Cares, Casper Reads, then expanded statewide in 2006 under the Wyoming Reads name. It now operates in all 23 Wyoming counties and has grown from a local effort in Casper and Natrona County into a tradition that organizers say has placed more than 100,000 books into the hands of children.
The 2026 celebration also continued a format that has become part of the program’s identity. After the community readers and book distribution, local gatherings included a picnic lunch or snack and a special fairytale about “The Good Queen Sue,” a tribute to Sue Jorgensen, whose memory helped inspire the program through the Sue Jorgensen Library Foundation. John Jorgensen established the foundation and the Wyoming Reads celebration to honor his late wife’s commitment to literacy and books.
The scale of the effort has continued to grow. Wyoming Reads says it distributed books to nearly 7,500 first-graders in 2019, and this year’s count of nearly 6,400 students again showed the reach of the statewide program across public, private and home schools.
In Albany County, the celebration put that statewide network on display in a local setting, with schools, readers and families all gathered around the same goal: getting children excited about books before reading habits begin to harden.
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