Written by Denise Gary
Photographs ©Denise Gary
This past summer, I had the pleasure of visiting Sam Garcia Western Avenue Library in Avondale, Arizona. The library in this small community west of Phoenix had just received a large shipment of our books, so I decided to drop by and say hello. I was given a tour of the library and treated to a colorful display of our books.
It was a fun surprise to see thank you signs created for Kids Need to Read.
The librarians were extremely grateful to KNTR, because they have not had a budget for new kids’ books since September 2008. According to Teen Librarian Jordan Boaz, “The kids were so excited about the titles and our children’s librarian has already planned multiple story times around the books that we got.”
Children’s Librarian Daphne Purchase, Library Manager Lisë Chlebanowski and Teen Librarian Jordan Boaz
Jordan had heard about Kids Need to Read when she attended a conference at which KNTR board member James Blasingame spoke. Referring to James as an “amazing speaker,” Jordan also mentioned that she heard about Rings of Orbis at the conference. Rings of Orbis is the free, online game created by KNTR Founder PJ Haarsma to connect kids interested in gaming with literacy. Jordan said she had been using Rings of Orbis in the library with success, saying that it really attracts the kids. She had only used it on a limited basis, because they did not yet have The Softwire books that the game is built around. Now that they have the series, Jordan plans to step up using Rings of Orbis in the library in support of reading.
Jordan showed me the teen section of the library, which was bright and featured many computers for the kids to access. Unfortunately, the book shelves were sparse, so I felt happy that we had sent many books for teen readers.
The library is small, but it was filled with lots of kids happily reading! I found this very heartening. It is good to know there is a huge audience for our books there. Children’s Librarian Daphne Purchase told me she had had a story time earlier in the day with two books provided by KNTR and planned to build other programs around our donation.
The library hosts a free lunch program for the kids of the community. This was the first time I had seen such a program at a library before, but it struck me as a great way to build a culture of literacy around those participating. Because the library is so close to several schools, Jordan says they “often work with them to form a cohesive net that surrounds the children with literature.”
There is no better reward for my commitment to KNTR than being able to visit a recipient of one of our donations. I felt very proud over the many compliments for the Kids Need to Read program, our book list and our distinguished board members. In front of the library stood a beautiful sculpture – a tree of children’s hands.
Hopefully, these “leaves” represent many children holding books in their hands!
I cannot even express how grateful we are here at the library. – Jordan Boaz, Teen Librarian, Sam Garcia Western Avenue Library
