In a world that grabs the attention of our children through screen time with glitzy graphics, moving images and color — you'll be glad to know that for a lot of kids, nothing has replaced the power of getting lost in a good book.
Givan Berry is one of those students. He's a fifth grader at Alex Green Elementary School in Nashville and loves visiting the library. "It lets me explore my imagination," he told me.
Givan is building a library at home now with the gifts of free books from the Scripps Howard Fund, Scholastic and NewsChannel 5. As part of our annual "If You Give A Child A Book" campaign, your donations help us coordinate book fairs at schools in our community — where kids get to pick out books to take home at no cost to them at all.
"What I think about getting three free books every year at the book fair is just amazing, us picking out three free books and not paying one dime for them!" Givan said.
At just ten years old, Givan's mother says he needs a bigger bookshelf. "You can read a book on an iPad, cell phone, laptop computer... but there's nothing like holding that physical copy in your hands, " mom Catyra Williams said.
Rhythm Waterhouse picked out a book to read to me. She's also a fifth grader at Alex Green Elementary.
"I like books because they educate us and they teach us," Rhythm told me. Her dad loves that the book fairs provide countless subject options and she gets to choose what's interesting to her.
Through your donations to our If You Give A Child A Book campaign, you're helping kids in our community for years to come.
