Where the Wild Things Are. Malala’s Magic Pencil. The Day the Crayons Quit. These books may seem out of place on a normal registry, but for students at Cedar Elementary School, they’re just what the librarian ordered.
The kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school was recently announced as one of 182 high-needs elementary schools in Canada to be part of this year’s Indigo Love of Reading Foundation’s annual Adopt a School program.
The school is excited to be a recipient this year, said librarian-teacher Emily Kay.
From Sept. 14 to Oct. 6, the school is “adopted” by the Driftwood Mall Cole’s in Courtenay. The store will be fundraising for the school with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to Cedar Elementary at the end of the three weeks. The school will receive an e-gift card and will receive 30 per cent off when using the card to buy from Indigo.
“A lifelong love of reading and educational success is possible for every Canadian child,” said Heather Reisman, chair of the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation. “However, we face a significant challenge with the funding of public elementary school libraries across Canada where small of nonexistent library budgets are the reality.
”We as a country need to do better to ensure that all students become engaged readers.”
Kay said that the library funding fluctuates every year.
“Last year our budget was $9 per student,” she said. “That’s more than in the past.”
The school is seeing the impacts of past funding lulls now.
Their collection is in need of some TLC and with the Adopt a School program, there’s hope the collection will have some new life breathed into it.
“The idea is to get one new, shiny, exciting book into a student’s hands,” said Kay.
They’re working to build a culture of reading and learning; of curiousity among their students.
“Literacy is absolutely important in their development and experience in becoming readers and life-long learners,” she said.
New to the program this year is an online registry where benefactors can purchase books on the list for the school.
The registry is specially curated from a list submitted by Indigo to match the school’s needs.
Many of the books on Cedar Elementary’s lists are already in the library, but are student favourites. Indigo will match every book purchased from the list as a donation to the school.
To take a look at the registry, visit: loveofreading.org/adoptaschool/ and search for Cedar Elementary School.