Kids at Maywood Community School got to do the best kind of book shopping this week – the free kind.
On Tuesday, the school got 4,000 books to give out to students, thanks to First Book Canada, a non-profit dedicated to getting books into the hands of low-income kids, and Love Child Organics, a Canadian baby food company that donates some of its profits to First Book.
In an all-day literacy celebration that included readings by Burnaby children’s author Brandee Buble, Maywood students got to end the day by perusing stacks of books and picking five to take home as their very own.
Having access to books at home is important, according to Burnaby school district literacy consultant Tanis Anderson, who organized the day with Maywood teacher-librarian Jenny Sharma.
She says studies show having books at home improves kids’ reading performance and encourages a love of reading.
And getting books to keep – instead of checking them out of the library – comes with other added benefits as well, according to Anderson.
“There’s just a feeling of real love around that,” she says of book ownership, “and then kids read them over and over again, and when kids read books over and over again, their reading improves and their fluency improves, their comprehension, maybe they pick up different things about the book that they hadn’t noticed with the first reading.”
Students who own books can also pass them on to siblings and even parents who are new to the English language, Anderson said.
“If those books stay in the home, they’re helping everybody in the house,” she said.
