Sacramento Monarchs players Rebekkah Brunson and Adrian Williams visited students at Hagginwood Elementary School in Sacramento on Wednesday to interact and read with children through the WNBA’s Read to Achieve program.

After reading the book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” by Laura Joffe Numeroff, the players talked to the kids about the importance of staying in school, and to make reading a daily habit.

“When I was your age,” explained Adrian Williams, “my parents wouldn’t allow me to play basketball unless I got all A’s and B’s on my report card.” She said that school came tough for her, but that through hard work and extra tutoring, she was able to attain the grades required by her parents. “And it taught me that hard work pays off,” Williams said.

The students at the event are part of Hagginwood Elementary’s CORAL after school program.

Read to Achieve is a year-round campaign to help young people develop a lifelong love for reading and encourage adults to read regularly with children. Reaching an estimated 50 million children a year, Read to Achieve is the most extensive educational outreach initiative in the history of professional sports.