CHRISTIANSBURG -- Children in the New River Valley could have a new reason to read this month through the Read & Roll program, a partnership between Montgomery County's elementary schools and Adventure World Skate and Fun Center in Christiansburg.

Students can earn a free skate admission pass for reading books this month.

Read & Roll is a collaborative effort to encourage healthier minds and bodies. October is National Roller Skating Month, and the theme for this year's celebration, as designated by the Roller Skating Association, focuses on wellness and health. Caitlin Morris, marketing manager at Adventure World, said the center staff wanted to help the community and promote fitness at the same time, so Read & Roll was a good fit for the organization.

"We're just trying to get kids to read more, and we thought we could incorporate that into this year's wellness and health theme with Montgomery County elementary students," Morris said. "A lot of them have to read each night anyway, so we wanted to provide an incentive -- get your school work done, you can have a little fun."

Morris coordinated with Linda Galloway of Montgomery County schools to get permission to distribute the bookmarks at the schools, and then she had to coordinate with each principal and make sure teachers were on board.

All the students have to do is pick up a Roller Roo Read & Roll bookmark at their school or the skate center, read five books, have the bookmark signed by their teacher and present it at the center before Nov. 10.

Principal Jason Garretson of Christiansburg Elementary School said the program is so new that his school has not been able to fully implement it just yet, though he said it is an interesting way to get students to read more.

"These are really nice offers to our students, and we also plan to use some certificates and prizes toward student recognition," Garretson said. "I think it's a program with a great deal of promise."

Donna Webster, executive director of Literacy Volunteers of the New River Valley, said reading programs for children are an important element to defeating the adult literacy problem in Virginia.

"The key thing is to have a dialogue with children about reading, and statistics show talking to your child and actually having a conversation about what you're reading increases vocabulary," she said. "This actually engages them and introduces new words, and it's also important to find out your child's interests and buy books they will be interested in reading."

Though Montgomery County's functionally illiterate population is comparable to the national percentage of 14 percent, Webster said that number actually includes professors and students at Virginia Tech in the data. Without the university's impact, she said Montgomery County's illiteracy rate is much higher and is closer to numbers in other counties in the New River Valley. Pulaski County's illiteracy rate is 21 percent, followed by 18 percent and 17 percent in Floyd and Giles counties, respectively, according to numbers provided by the Literacy Volunteers.

"Companies actually look at how educated communities are, and census data sticks around for 10 years," Webster said. "It behooves us to improve literacy in the New River Valley, especially as much as we can by 2010, if we want to improve the economic conditions in southwestern Virginia."

Ashley Cox, manager at Adventure World, said the skate center is exploring other options for future reading programs and that the center offers more than skating, though the Read & Roll bookmark pass is only good for skate admission.