Chantell Major wondered why a delivery man was dropping off a large box on her front step. She hadn’t ordered anything online. When she went to bring the box in the house she noticed two things—it was too heavy to pick up and it was curiously addressed to her six-year-old daughter, Everleigh. But once her husband got the box inside and opened it, “we were just so surprised and couldn’t believe” what was inside, Major said. It was a box filled with 41 brand new, high quality, hardcover children’s books from Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS).
This is the fourth summer JCPS Academics and Library and Media Services has used a grant to mail boxes of books to students who will be entering first grade at Title 1 (high need) schools. More than 4,700 families received boxes of books in late May.
“JCPS is unwavering in its commitment to providing strong literacy foundations for all our students,” said Dr. Terra Greenwell, JCPS chief academic officer. “Recognizing the crucial role of partnership, this year's book deliveries included a QR code, offering parents and guardians direct access to resources for supporting their child's reading development. We believe students flourish with both rich exposure and targeted, explicit support, and we're excited to place these books and accompanying tools into the hands of many of our families, enabling powerful summer learning.”
Majors said Everleigh reads a book before bedtime every night and has already stacked the books on the top shelf of her bookcase so she can identify which ones are new. Majors was pleasantly surprised that the titles included some she read as a child including Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. She was also impressed with the number of books that “are super inclusive, featuring characters of different races. It’s important to me that my kids see that.”
Jill Fulton is another JCPS parent who was surprised to receive a heavy box addressed to five- year-old Maddex on her front porch. “We were just shocked,” Fulton said on discovering the box was full of books for Maddex, who quickly pulled all 41 out of the container.
Fulton teaches JCPS fourth and fifth graders and knows quality books when she sees them. She was excited to find all seven of the New York Times best-selling Food Group series of children’s books from Jory John and Pete Oswald in the box.
“As a teacher I understand that the more books kids have at home to read, the better they will do in school,” she said.