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WEST JORDAN — A school in West Jordan is thinking outside the box to help get books into the hands of its students who don't have access to them — and it's doing it all with the help of a well-known author. It may be a beautiful summer day outside, but kids and parents like Rachel Henderson are swarming to get inside Westvale Elementary's library. "I think it's fabulous, it just gives opportunities where there weren't any before," she said.
The reading opportunity at this Title I school was made possible by a grant from rock star author James Patterson. He partnered with Scholastic to make it happen — and climate and culture specialist Theresa Christensen made it happen for Westvale Elementary. "He said he would donate $1.75 million to school libraries, he knows it's a problem, our school library funds have been cut and they continue to be cut."
The school applied for and won a grant for $5,000 so it could bring its summer reading ideas to life. "We kind of had some ideas, the Read Box, opening the library in the summer so families can come enjoy the library here, and then we're going to buy new books."
Not only does it allow the library to be open in the late summer, it has made this "Read Box" possible. "It's unlocked all the time — it's not locked — the kids can just pull it open. We've started with the chapter books and some books for beginning readers."
It's been a good thing for the school, says Christensen. "A lot of the kids in our community in here — it comes down to, do you have a book or do you have food on your table?" It's a need that Christensen says wasn't being met before. "Some of them come to our school without having seen a book, it's not something that's normal in their household. So we felt this was a way of getting books into their homes as well."
Christensen says the community response to keep the "Read Box" filled has been huge. "We've had people donate books for us, so if they don't bring a book back that's OK. We've just got a ton of them ready to put in and donate to the kids and the community."
And access to books will help kids achieve an important goal. "Read, just read every night, and that's what we're trying to do is get the books to them. So they can say I have books at home, I can read, and to help them to get that literacy up."
