Seeing the kids get excited when the bus pulls up and the care they take in choosing their books, makes it clear it is working.”
– Karen Dozier | Educator
Books can open up new worlds and take us to places we may never visit but for some local families, books can be out of reach. According to USA Reads, “academically, children growing up in homes without books are on average three years behind children in homes with lots of books,” (M.D.R. Evans et al, June 2010). This creates a disparity that no amount of school support can fix.
Enter the Book Bus! Since 2015, local students have been building home libraries for FREE with books from Newton County’s Book Bus. The bus was established through a partnership between the Newton Education Foundation and the Newton County School System and has put hundreds of books into the hands of young children and their parents.
The bus, outfitted like a mini-library, goes out to local neighborhoods where children are invited on board to select books from a variety of age-appropriate reads. This year, the Foundation secured a $30,000 grant to stock the bus and to purchase some great character costumes to get kids excited about reading.
Karen Dozier, one of the educators who helped get the project off the ground, knows that reading can make all the difference in a child’s life. She shared, “the Book Bus has allowed us to go into schools and communities across our county and cultivate a love of reading. Seeing the kids get excited when the bus pulls up and the care they take in choosing their books, makes it clear it is working.”
Keep your eyes out for this one-of-a-kind vehicle which will once again make its annual appearance at the holiday parade. This year the Book Bus hopes to make appearances at events throughout the year including Change the World Day, The Lighting on the Square, The Literacy Festival, and more.