More than 2,000 Clarke County children are leaving their school’s libraries with a smile this month, thanks to an Athens organization that gives away books.
By the end of the day Friday, Melaney Smith and helpful volunteers with her Books for Keeps project will have distributed about 25,000 books to children in five Clarke County elementary schools. Thanks to Smith and her volunteer helpers, last Tuesday was one of the most thrilling days of the school year at J.J. Harris Elementary, as far as media specialist Denise Payne was concerned.
Children trooped through the media center all day long, almost all in smiles and many literally hopping up and down in excitement at the prospect of getting a dozen books to take home.
“I’m the most popular person in the school right now,” Payne said.
Each child got to pick out a dozen books, among hundreds that had been sorted out by grade level.
“You do not have to bring them back. They are yours forever,” Smith told the children.
University of Georgia students helped the children pick out their books, and at the same time kept track of what kinds of books the children were drawn to. In the younger grades, they saw, little girls went heavy on books with princesses in them, while boys were more apt to gravitate toward sports books. Both liked the National Geographic books on penguins, dolphins and other creatures.
The volunteers’ observations will help Smith pick out the books for next year’s Books for Keeps distribution, she said.
“Listening to them helps us upgrade our inventory,” she said.
In the first year of Books for Keeps, Smith was able to collect about 12,000 books with used book drives, cash donations and other help. This year, she’s doubled the number of books she’s able to give away — and doubled the number of children who’ll get to take 12 books home.
Education researchers have shown that a child who reads a dozen books over the summer won’t suffer from so-called “summer slide,” when students lose some of what they’ve learned in the previous school year, including reading skills.
Learning from the first year of Books for Keeps, Smith has managed to dramatically change the selection of books available to the children. Last year, Smith discovered that many young children were not interested in classics their parents might have loved, such as the Berenstain Bears — so this year she’s tried to get more up-to-date titles and subjects.
“We want the books to be fun and popular, so they’ll read them on their own without encouragement,” Smith said.
Books for Keeps continues to accept donated books and to conduct book drives — for more information, see the project’s blog at .
But Smith is also collecting cash donations so she can buy popular books. She can never get enough copies of some titles in great demand among the younger set, such as the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “Captain Underpants” series.
Besides J.J. Harris, every child at Howard B. Stroud, Fowler Drive, Gaines and Alps Road elementary schools can get a dozen books this year. Those are the schools with the highest percentage of students who get free or reduced-price lunches, indicating that some families’ income may be too modest to afford many books or summer trips to a public library.
Smith hopes to expand Books for Keeps to more Athens schools next year. And on a trial basis, the group will also launch the program in one Atlanta school.