Relativity and Walden Media announced today that they will develop, finance and produce a feature film adaptation of Alice Ozma's The Reading Promise, a bestselling memoir of how a shared passion for reading helped a single father and his youngest daughter navigate the ups and downs of their lives. Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee) is set to write the screenplay.

Walden Media COO Frank Smith had this to say in a statement.

"At its core, The Reading Promise is a heartfelt, imaginative story that celebrates family and love of reading, and as such, celebrates the core tenants of a Walden Media film. Jim Brozina's dedication to his family and the promise they made are nothing short of inspirational."

The Reading Promise is a heartwarming, true story of a young woman whose single father (Jim Brozina), a beloved elementary school librarian, made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. When the hundredth night came, neither wanted to let go of their storytelling ritual, so they continued their tradition until the night she left for college, a remarkable 3,218 nights (eight years) later. Alice tells her story as a series of vignettes about her relationship with her father and the life lessons learned from the books he read to her.

Ryan Kavanaugh and Deborah Giarratana (Machine Gun Preacher) will produce the film alongside Walden Media. Tucker Tooley will serve as executive producer.

Walden Media's Vice President of Development and Production, Naia Cucukov, who was an actual student of Jim Brozina's in their town of Millville, NJ, brought the project to Walden and will oversee the project on behalf of the company. Robbie Brenner and Josh Reinhold are overseeing the project on behalf of Relativity.