As part of her efforts to promote children’s literacy throughout the inaugural festivities, Governor Kay Ivey will be visiting First Class Pre-K classrooms across the state starting on Tuesday.

From January 8 through January 11, the week prior to Inauguration Day, Ivey will be reading and distributing books to more than 160 students in Pine Hill, Mobile, Huntsville and Birmingham. Pine Hill is in Ivey’s home county of Wilcox.

Through a partnership with Books-A-Million, each child will go home with a copy of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle and “Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.

Ivey’s efforts at promoting children’s literacy is in keeping with the inauguration theme of “Keep Alabama Growing.”

“Investing in the next generation is critical to our ability to keep Alabama growing,” Ivey said in a previous press release. “As we prepare for four more years of growing opportunities for Alabamians, I can’t think of a better place to begin than with our children’s literacy, ensuring they get a strong start.”

As part of these efforts, the governor’s inaugural committee will be hosting book drives at the Gulf Coast Inaugural Celebration on Saturday and the Inaugural Gala in Montgomery on Monday, January 14. The books collected will be donated to the Alabama Literacy Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to improving literacy in communities across the state.

Tickets to the Gulf Coast Inaugural Celebration are available to the general public here. The $25 ticket price will be waived for attendees who bring four children’s books to the celebration.

The Inaugural Gala in Montgomery is invitation only.

Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn