Leave Your Book Project
The students from the
Finders take the book to read and enjoy. They can then go to our web site
to tell us where they found the book and, if they care to, write a brief review or see the reviews of others.
When they have finished with the book, they leave it somewhere, for someone else to find and enjoy.
We will be mapping the travels of each book. The students in our school are very excited to learn more about geography and to track our books to see how far they go.
Thank you and enjoy your reading adventure!
Some children might like to put their books down somewhere and just walk away, leaving their reading behind.
But students at the
Seventh- and eighth-graders at the private school are logging dozens of children's book titles and other information onto a computer Web site and affixing stickers to the books to alert potential readers to the project, now in its second year. They plan to leave the books at public places -- perhaps one on a playground bench or another on a bus depot window ledge -- in the hope that someone will find and read them.
The stickers also ask people who find the books to leave them elsewhere once they're done reading, so another person can find and read. Readers are further encouraged to log onto the Web site, where they can share where they found the book and write a short review if they like. That way, the students at the school can track their books and see which ones are creating the biggest buzz.
Language-arts teacher Kate Kerrane said the idea for the literacy project took root at the end of the last school year. She mentioned to her reading class that she had seen a book at a coffee shop with a note inviting anyone to take the book. The children expressed interest in launching a similar effort.
"I was trying to think of a way to get kids actually involved in a project," she said. "The school is project-oriented. We're trying to build a connection with the community. And we're trying to get other people excited about reading. It was exciting for the kids to see the book traveling around and having sort of a life of its own, and they can sort of track it and see where it goes."
Students in spring and summer scattered about 150 donated books at locations
including at
"The kids are really excited about the idea of redistributing resources," she said. "This is using something they already have, that they enjoyed and maybe somebody else can enjoy."
Last year's efforts drew a modest number of Web-site reviews or comments from the books that were left behind:
"This is a great book for my 5-year-old daughter," one
"I am going into sixth grade and I thought this book was easy to read
and follow," a
Kerrane hopes an earlier start this school year, publicity about the project and more books will help build on what they started. The students distributed about 200 books for readers in pre-school through high school last week, with three more distribution pushes expected in the months ahead.
"Sometimes, when you do volunteer work, you don't know what the response will be," she said. "You may not know what happens. But you have to know the book is out there, and somebody might read it."
Kerrane, who wants to begin leaving books for adults, too, also can take heart that her students are reading more because of the project.
"I wasn't really a fan of books before this," said Tyler Hansen, 13, an eighth-grader. "But this has really gotten me into reading. I have about seven of them in a stack at my home."
The students in the project also can brush up on their writing skills through reviews of their own.
"Rather than write a book report that nobody will ever read, they can write a review that anyone in the world can access," Kerrane said.
The project also has made the students more aware about literacy. They
donated 680 books last year to
"I think it's really nice that we can spread literacy," eighth-grader Casey Garvey said.
HOW TO HELP
People who would like to donate books in good shape for the project can drop them off at the Newark Center for Creative Learning, 401 Phillips Ave., Newark. For more information, call the school at 368-7772.Contact Edward L. Kenney at 324-2891 or ekenney@delawareonline.com.