Donated children's books find new homes in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE - Dozens of elementary school students in Charlotte are ending the school year with something to keep them sharp over the summer: A stack of books to read.

Groups of "at-risk readers" in kindergarten through second grade at Washington Elementary School swept through the lunchroom on Monday afternoon, choosing from more than 1,000 donated children's books spread out on picnic tables. Everyone was allowed to take 10 books.

Six-year-old Gabby Mitschke joined her first-grade classmates in a loose scramble for books, scampering from table to table. Within a few minutes, she had an armful, including "A Very Young Gardener" and "The Great Undersea Search," and spread them out on the floor to examine.

"I have one, two, three, four, five, six," she said. "I need four more."

Third-grade teacher Paul Murphy started the "Summer Books" initiative last year, launching a website and reaching out to parents who were likely to have a stash of children's books they no longer needed. The word got around, and donations rolled in – so quickly, in fact, that he had enough within the first two months, he said.

"We started piling them in boxes in my basement," he said. "Most of them were donated by parents. Red Fox Comics donated 30 comic books, and a friend of my wife's donated $100 to buy new books."

The Summer Books program aims to address a phenomenon teachers often see: Some students who made good reading progress during the school year fall back over the summer. Research shows those children often are from low-income families and don't read much over the summer because they don't own books, according to the Summer Books website.

School staff used test scores and other data to identify at-risk readers and invited them to choose summer books. About 100 students were selected.

Murphy said he hopes to expand the initiative to other elementary schools in the future.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.