South Ripley sixth grader just read her 5 millionth word this school year!

Hunger Games, Little Women among her favorite books

(VERSAILLES, Ind.) – A South Ripley sixth grader is in a league of her own when it comes to reading!

Eva Lou Powaga has always enjoyed reading so much that she set a goal to read 4 million words this school year. 

She accomplished the 4-million word milestone a few months ago and decided to aim even higher. 

Eva set out to read 5 million words and she just reached that goal on Friday! 

It was accomplished while reading ‘Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ which is part of her favorite series. 

To put the 5 million word accomplishment in perspective,  the average sixth grader reads around 500,000 words per school year. That is just 10 percent of the words Eva has read this year.

She says reading has really helped to sharpen her conversation skills and also her knowledge.

Her teacher is Mrs. Lisa Gilpin who said she is very proud of Eva. 

“I wonder how many she will read next school year,” Gilpin laughed.

Eva said she is going to keep reading even though she isn’t keeping track of words anymore. 

Where does that love of reading come from?

“My mom read to me when I was little, and she has always had high expectations for me,” she said.