Librarian Laura Eason at Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary School loves to send students home with books they love. However, a shortage of library books makes that tough. 

“We have a very small amount of books to begin with, and we have a lot of books that need to be replaced,” Eason said. “I quickly run out of books that are in their interest area.”

Eason hopes a $14,000 grant from the Snapdragon Book Foundation the school recently received will help. She wants to use the money to buy books students most often request. They include more nonfiction books on sports, cars, animals and holidays for primary students and books about mythology, biographies about celebrities and famous athletes and mild horror books for older students. 

The school library has about 4,700 books available for students to check out. A nearby elementary school has about 12,000, Eason said. 

The shortage means students are limited to checking out two books at a time, she said. 

“That’s the most I can really allow with what we have,” she said. “This is gonna allow me to let them check out three and four books and have so many more. This is just a wonderful opportunity to grow the collection.” 

Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary is one of nine schools nationally to receive the grant from the foundation. The Snapdragon Book Foundation, which aims to put books in the hands of disadvantaged kids, reports receiving 575 applications from public, private and charter schools across the country for this year’s grant. The grants awarded ranged between $500 and $15,000. 

“The most important thing in the early development of our students is their literacy skills,” Superintendent Gary Fields said. He added, if you can hook kids with interesting books “their ability to be more successful in school, not just life, increases dramatically.”

Eason said 100 percent of students at the elementary school qualify for free and reduced lunch. As many as 42 percent of the school’s students are African-American and 31 percent are Hispanic.

“We do serve a lower socioeconomic group, and we’re a very diverse school,” Eason said. “I think our collection needs to reflect the diversity of our students. I think this grant will help do that, and that’s something I did mention in my application.”

If Eason can get a student interested in a book about their favorite pro wrestling star, it can be a starting point for improving their literacy skills, she said. Those skills are critical when it comes to testing, she said. 

“So the more that a child is able to read and find pleasure in reading … then that is only going to benefit them in their regular class work,” Eason said. 

Cory Curl, associate director of the Prichard Committee, agreed and said access to books is key to making sure that “each child has the education that they need to exceed state standards.”

Eason estimates she’ll be able to buy between 550 and 600 books. She looks forward to the day students walk into her school’s library and see what it has to offer. 

“That’s what I just can’t wait to see,” she said.  

— Follow reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @aaron_muddbgdn or visit bgdailynews.com.