Breaking the record a book at a time

Blaine Rohleder couldn’t let the tie stand any longer, so last Wednesday, he knocked out an Accelerated Reader (AR) test for a 16-page book, “May’s Whale,” to surpass the national record for AR points in a school year.

With the record-breaking 2,718.4 AR points behind him, the Jasper Elementary School fourth grader still had a personal goal of earning 2,800 points before the semester deadline of May 8. Which he did, finishing with a total of 2,804.8 points for the year.

Students earn AR points by reading approved books and then taking tests on them. The points are based on the book’s reading level and how well the student does on the test. Blaine’s record-breaking book, “May’s Whale,” was worth 0.4 AR points. To inspire the students to read independently, the schools award prizes to students as they hit AR point milestones.

Blaine’s quest for the record began in third grade when he accumulated 2,008 AR points. At the end of the year, the students’ AR accomplishments are recognized with different activities. As the top AR point holder, Blaine was awarded a trophy and certificate.

Afterward, he and his dad, Chase, were discussing the accomplishment. “We were talking about him getting so many points and one of us said, ‘I wonder who’s gotten the most AR points in a school year,” Chase said.

That led them to find an article about the most recent record of 2,718 AR points, set in 2021 by a third-grade student in Montgomery, Alabama.

“So, Blaine just kind of said, ‘Maybe I should go for 2,800 points,'” Chase said.

Blaine has been checking out books from the library since he was in preschool when his parents read to him. But “He began reading on his own at four or five,” said Laura, Blaine’s mom.

And his reading skills grew from there. He tackled “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” in second grade–44 AR points.

Blaine and his dad, the analytical one in the family, according to Blaine’s mom, calculated how many points he would need to get weekly to meet his goal. With that in mind, the family began making multiple trips to the Jasper Public Library, bringing home stacks of books at a time.

In the process of hitting his goal, Blaine has cleared shelves in the library’s Young Adult and Juvenile Fiction sections as he’s devoured series after series.

Those trips were supplanted by Blaine’s own trips to the Jasper Elementary School library, checking out the maximum three books allowed at a time. School librarian Mrs. Sabrina Peters said he stopped by regularly as she monitored the AR points he continued to accumulate.

It took a lot to accomplish. Mom explained that at home, he’s always got a book in his hand. “I’ve caught him reading on the toilet; he has a book next to him while he’s brushing his teeth; he’s reading at breakfast; he’s definitely reading in bed before I make him go to sleep,” Laura said. “And, he’s reading when I open the door at 5:30 in the morning.”

There was some trouble fitting all the reading in during March Madness. The family are big IU fans and have a bracket contest annually so even though IU didn’t perform well, he was still interested in his bracket. “He was wanting to watch a lot of March Madness games,” Chase said.

Watching the games and still reading were a bit taxing on Blaine, but he persevered while enjoying basketball.

Early on, Blaine wondered if he could actually meet his goal. He’s a well-rounded kid who plays soccer and also sings and plays piano.

“I wasn’t reading as much as I am now,” he explained when he was about 200 points from breaking the record.

He can only test at school. Most Mondays, after a heavy weekend of reading, he would take up to five tests. He did well on most, with scores usually above 85 percent, but he did get a 50 percent on one test, which resulted in zero AR points.

By the time he hit his goal of 2,800 points on May 8, Blaine had read and tested on 415 books.

His tastes seem to lean toward fantasy–more than a quarter of the books he finished for the record are from the “Warriors” series (as high as 19 AR points) by Erin Hunter–and slick spy novels like Alex Rider (up to 15 AR points). But he’s read a lot from the “Who Was” or “Who Is” series (1 AR point each), which are short biographies about interesting and impactful people. His favorite was about Albert Einstein because he enjoyed learning about science and physics.

“He developed a lot of answers to questions and mysteries about our world,” Blaine said.

He hasn’t read a book he didn’t like at least a little. “I certainly like some books better than others,” Blaine admitted.

Laura is the family reader. She prefers carrying books along with her wherever she goes to ensure she has one available for waiting or relaxation. Chase is more of an “if I need to learn something or figure something out” kind of reader.

But watching Blaine voraciously read and then test on the material has been gratifying for them.

“I am super proud,” Chase said. “I am really proud that he set a goal and other than him asking me to take him to the library to get more books, he’s done it all on his own.”

Laura agreed and added that the plethora of books he has read is valuable in a multitude of ways.

“There are a lot of benefits,” she said. “The vocabulary he’s acquired, the things he’s learned through all these books. He’s read about famous people and events going on in the world. Just the knowledge he’s gained and the desire to learn more is what really means a lot to me.”

“That’s what I am really proud of him for.”

His parents think his reading has even inspired his younger sister, Chloe, to pick up more books.

Why did he do it?

Simple.

“To read a lot of books and try to get a lot of AR points,” Blaine said.

Next year, he’s shooting for 3,000.