A TITLE I ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN SLIDELL, LOUISIANA

Bonne Ecole Elementary, a Title I school located in Slidell, Louisiana, wants to guarantee that their students have access to books during the summer months while school is closed.

Parent volunteer Jenny Helber created the ‘Twelve Books' program, where students are given the opportunity to choose 12 books on the last day of the school year, giving them a wide selection of reading material for summer vacation.

Working with almost no budget, buying books was a challenge. But with the help of First Book, the Twelve Books program was able to provide a total of 1,561 new books for first-graders at the school; 130 first graders were each given 12 books to take home for their own.

“You cannot imagine the incredible anticipation, excitement and desire of the students to have twelve books of their own to read over the summer,” said first-grade teacher Susan Schwaner.

“My son was so excited to show me the books he chose,” said Diane Ripley, the mother of one of the students. “And this is my son who ‘hates to read’ as he says almost every time he has to read.”