OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Last school year, KMTV took its If You Give A Child a Book campaign to Omaha's King and Washington Elementary Schools.
For the first time in the history of the initiative, we're returning to the same schools to help those students continue to build their home libraries.
Judy Bauer, the school's library media specialist, explained how the partnership supports their goals.
"Reading, reading, reading. That is one of our goals for the year is to improve our reading stamina, so we're pushing as much reading as we can. We read print, we read on our iPads. We read anything and everywhere we can," she said.
Bauer explained how students were initially puzzled. It took time to realize they would get to keep the books they picked out at the book fair.
"They were so excited to have their own books," she remembered. "They treasure them."
Evan, a 3rd-grade student, selected "Dog Man", "Captain Underpants" and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" titles.
Sophia, who's in 5th grade now, chose graphic novels including "The Tryout".
Bauer shared the story of another student.
"(He) loved airplanes, and now, all he does is check out books about airplanes because he got an airplane book at the free book fair last year. And he wants to be a pilot."
"It has really built confidence. It's given them their own ownership of books and it just has made them so happy. They're really happy."
All money donated will stay local to purchase books through Scholastic.
Please give here: Give A Book Donation Page (3newsnow.com)
Watch the closed caption version on Youtube here.
Download our apps today for all of our latest coverage.
Get the latest news and weather delivered straight to your inbox.
