East Tennessee Bookmobile

Children who do not have access to books often start kindergarten already behind on literacy and language skills.  Those same children slide back several reading levels each summer. Their peers who have access to books maintain their grade level skills or gain skills over the summer break, thus creating an ever widening achievement gap between those students who have books and those who don't. Students who have not had access to a variety of books during school vacations often end up a couple of grade levels behind in their skills by middle school.

To stop the ever widening achievement gap,   teachers in East Tennessee are volunteering to go to students' apartment complexes to listen to the children read and to distribute books. Teachers read with eager students, who recognize the friendly faces from school. Students are given donated prizes for reading and returning each week's books.

Every week books, prizes, chairs, blankets, and popsicles are loaded, unloaded, reloaded, and unloaded from a volunteer's personal vehicle.  We want to purchase a van to house the books.  Having a shared vehicle to house and deliver the books will allow for more flexible hours and more volunteers, which means more neighborhoods and children could be served! Please help us read with as many children as possible.