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  JANA SUMMERS Students sign the World's Largest Book in Westwood Plaza on Wednesday. Each signature will result in a needy child receiving a book from a sponsor.

By Ivy Dai

Daily Bruin Contributor

The World’s Largest Book made its appearance at Bruin Plaza Wednesday, as UCLA students signed their names to it.

Sponsors of the event – Coca-Cola, Scholastic Books and First Book, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to “give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books” – have pledged to donate one book to a needy child in Los Angeles for every signature on the book.

“The World’s Largest Book campaign brings together the leaders of the private, public and government sector for a basic cause – to provide books for kids and not just fight illiteracy, but to end it,” said Chandler Arnold, director of corporate strategy at First Book.

The U.S. Department of Education reported in April that 32 percent of the nation’s fourth-graders are at the minimum reading proficiency level.

The UCLA campus was chosen as the site of the event because “UCLA exemplifies the spirit of volunteerism that First Book supports,” Arnold said.

Third-year neuroscience and English student Jessie Mai signed the 12- by 15-foot motorized scrolling book Wednesday.

“Literacy is such an important cause because books are the first gateway to a child’s imagination,” Mai said.

Nicole Josephson, a fourth-year psychology student, said the event allowed UCLA to get involved in the community.

The book signing “raises the issue of how do we, as UCLA students, connect with the kids,” Josephson said.