Kids Need to Read used its January funds to make two large donations to school libraries in California and New Jersey. We were moved by the heartfelt submissions we received from these schools and hope to make a difference for their students.
Kristina Kim, a fifth grade teacher at Sutro Elementary School in San Francisco, California, told us of the lack of new reading material available to the students of Sutro:
My school library is very small and outdated. We don’t have the budget to buy many books every year, but we make due with what parents donate. The kids in my school are voracious readers and love books of all kinds. I would love to see them with an up-to-date library, and perhaps some more of the classics, without the torn covers that have been loved to pieces.
Kids Need to Read sent the school 20 new books valued at $300.00, giving their students fresh and exciting material to read. Kristina sent KNTR an enthusiastic thank you:
I just got the box on Wednesday!
Thank you so much. The Librarian, Molly, is thrilled with the fact they are hardback books. They will surely last longer than any paperback we have in stock.
The titles are amazing! And the kids in my class were ogling them on Thursday, asking to borrow them already!
Thank you, thank you!
Nicole Sette, Media Specialist at New Brunswick High School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, sent Kids Need to Read a message expressing the especially dire situation of her library:
The Library at New Brunswick HS serves approximately 1200 students in grades 9-12. We have a 100% minority population, the majority being African American and Latino. Due to years of neglect there is no age appropriate YA fiction to reflect their lives and interests. We also have a large population of special needs students with no materials to reflect their reading levels.
New Brunswick High School was sent a total of 25 new books valued at $400.00. Special care was given to meet the cultural and reading level needs requested in the submission letter. Nicole expressed her appreciation in a letter to Kids Need to Read when the books were on their way to her:
These are great! I’m so excited – you are sending me some that were on my “wish list” for the library!
… and after she received the books:
I am so happy to finally have some age-appropriate fiction for students to read – I’ve already started processing them and getting them shelf ready.
Thanks again!
The volunteers of Kids Need to Read are always excited when new donations are made, knowing that kids will find joy and inspiration in the exciting adventures found within the covers of their new books.
