Students at Christian school ready to read
JEFFERSON TWP — Students at HIS Kids Christian School are implementing Code R.E.D. in the halls, reminding themselves to read every day.
Those in the HIS Kids Christian community also have a new way to access books for children and adults alike: a little free library outside the school’s front doors.
It’s already an active concept in a few of Butler’s residential neighborhoods. Butler has three little free libraries, which are enclosed bookshelves providing a common space to take and leave books, thanks to the Butler Public Library.
HIS Kids Christian School may be the first school in the area to provide one.
“I just thought it was the neatest concept when I heard of it,” said Debora Dawson, principal, a former reading specialist. “How do we get kids excited about reading?”
Dawson said the idea and completion have been nearly a year in the making. Students in the carpentry program at the Butler Vocational Technical School in the spring designed the bookshelf, which includes shingle detailing like a real house.
Students and staff dedicated the new little free library Thursday with each grade level and the Butler library donating a book to get the project started.
Book titles included “If You Give A Pig a Pancake” and “A Hippopotamus Ate the Teacher.”
“If you take a book out of here and like it a whole lot, you can bring a different book back instead,” said Lynn Hinkel, a former librarian at the school.
Peter Bess, youth services librarian at Butler Public Library, also visited the school and read a book to the students.
“It gives you another reason to get out in the community right where you live,” he said of the little free library. “It’s really about involving the community more, getting to know your neighbors.”
The library plans on erecting several more little free libraries in the spring, he said.
