Several Mississippi school libraries get grant boost

Four Mississippi elementary school libraries are among grant recipients across the country benefiting from best-selling author James Patterson's pledge supporting efforts to build a more literate America.

A total of 467 school libraries have received grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000; the author's $1.75 million in grants to school libraries is in partnership with Scholastic Reading Club. Close to 28,000 grant requests were received

Mississippi schools receiving grants are Neshoba Central Elementary School in Philadelphia, Pearl Lower Elementary in Pearl, St. Martin Upper Elementary in Ocean Springs and Sudduth Elementary School in Starkville.

At Pearl Lower Elementary, first-grade teacher Missy Jones is targeting electronic books and accelerated-reader books for the classroom. Having books on students' reading level, and that they're interested in, are key, she said, with a variety needed to serve both above-grade-level students and low readers.

St. Martin Upper Elementary librarian Cassandra Lizana was a reading teacher when she applied for the grant, and "now I am so excited, I don't know what to do!" She hopes new library books and upgrades in technology will spark more enthusiasm for the library. "Kids love technology. I would really like to get some Kindles and some electronic books for them. ... I am blown away by his generosity."

Debbie Allen, school librarian at Sudduth Elementary, wants to build a Little Free Library, "a cute doll-house kind of library with books on the honor system" to serve the school's 1,200 K-2 students, she said. She's aiming for at least one in the school and one in the neighborhood that might serve older students, too, "hoping just to get books in kids' hands when they don't always have them at home," Allen said.

A bonus point-matching system through Scholastic allows teachers to get books and other materials for the library and classrooms. "It's just a wonderful opportunity, especially when budgets are being squeezed in so many ways," Allen said.

Neshoba Central Elementary leaders were also thrilled and grateful about the selection. Principal Tiffany Plott said, "The need for new books is tremendous!" with 1,700 children coming through the library each week. Books are quite worn from the circulation..

Children take great pride in their reading program progress, "and new books will escalate that!" Assistant Principal Tarla Page said.

"It continues to be inspiring and motivating to work with James Patterson to support school libraries across the country, Scholastic Reading Club president Judy Newman said in a news release. The Scholastic Reading Club is a division of Scholastic, the global children's publishing, education and media company. "Jim's unwavering commitment to helping children lead better lives rich with books is transformative."

In the announcement, Patterson called the grants "my humble acknowledgement of some of the terrific work taking place in school libraries.

"Here's to communities supporting supporting their bookstores and libraries. Here's to a country that makes reading a priority. Here's to flourishing libraries and booksellers."

The author is dedicating proceeds from the sales of JIMMY Patterson Books, his pro bono children's book imprint, to fund pro-reading initiatives like school library grants and independent bookseller bonus program. In 2016, he'll continue to support their work in new ways.

Lizana said, "It's so nice for someone in a position like his, to care for libraries and our children's reading, That just touches an educator's heart."

Contact Sherry Lucas at slucas@gannett.com or (601) 961-7283. Follow @SherryLucas1 on Twitter.