The Books For Teachers Program
The Books for Teachers program started with a simple idea: provide an abundance of books of all types and subjects to children whose access to books may be limited. What better place to find a rich resource of books at affordable prices than a library book sale?
And what better way to get the books into student hands than through their teachers?
The Pequot Experience
Thus the Books for Teachers program kicked off with several thousand dollars in funding from the Reneé B. Fisher Foundation. The first year, 2003, thirteen public school teachers from the largest city in the state of Connecticut were invited to attend the Pequot Library Summer Book Sale in Southport. They each received vouchers worth $200 to buy books at the book sale.
The teachers left the sale with books on everything from history to folklore, pets and animals, atlases and dictionaries, not to mention a few chapter books and classics, and math and science books, too.
Their one complaint: it was a challenge to spend the entire $200, even over four days of the book sale. With books priced from 50 cents to three or four dollars each, teachers purchased many more books than they might have been able to buy at a book store.
The teachers couldn’t wait to get back to their classrooms in the fall to share their new-found wealth with their students. In subsequent interviews, teachers reported that they used the books purchased at the book sale to supplement their classroom libraries. Books were used as incentives for students – to encourage reading, research, and discovery. Some of the teachers reported wrapping the books and presenting them to students at the end of the school year.
Fast forward to the year 2006. Ninety eight teachers from 34 public schools in two Connecticut cities attended the Pequot Library Book Sale with vouchers worth $100 each. They are still singing the praises of the Books for Teachers program to their colleagues and sharing their many finds with their deserving students.
The program has been such a success. With a minimum amount of volunteer effort it has also been easy to implement. We hope that your library book sale might be able to replicate the “Books For Teachers” program and spread the joy of reading to other communities in need.