15,000 New Children’s Books Donated to New Mexico Schools

Gallup, NM – Reader to Reader, a Massachusetts nonprofit literacy organization, has donated 15,000 new children’s books to public schools in the Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools District.

The donation is the third major donation the literacy organization has made in the last 12 months. In August of 2011, Reader to Reader donated 13,000 new books for back to school and in December they donated hundreds of books and 5 computers for Navajo Pine Middle School in Navajo, New Mexico. Reader to reader has been working to enhance schools and libraries on and near the Navajo nation for the past decade, and has donated over $1,000,000 worth of books, computers and teacher resources in that time.

The latest book donation has brought an enthusiastic response from teachers.

“Thank you so much for the books you sent us! We will enjoy them greatly,” said Randy Reeve, who teaches kindergarten in the town of Thoreau, New Mexico. “My kindergartners have enjoyed reading these books and some of them won books to take home!”

“This is part of our continuing commitment to the schools in New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation, and the schools in the Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools District in particular,” says David Mazor, founder and executive director of Reader of Reader. “Greater access to books has a direct impact on literacy rates.”

The books include a long list of popular titles, including:

Bridge Terabithia
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Nate the Great & the Sticky Case
Berloiz The Bear
If You Give a Pig a Party
Great Joy

The books have already generated enthusiastic responses for both teachers and students.

“The first grade students in my class are enjoying the wonderful books you have donated, I am appreciative because many of the books are hardback and will last a long time in the hands of first graders. Again, thank you for your generous donations! Love and Learning,” said Ms. Garcia on behalf of her first grade class at Juan de Onate Elementary in Gallup, New Mexico

"Thank you for the books! I like Diary of a Fly." noted Celia, one of her energetic students.

Reader to Reader's donation was made possible by Scholastic.

About Reader to Reader

Based on the campus of Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Reader to Reader, Inc. www.readertoreader.org is a non-profit organization that distributes books to schools and libraries in need. They have donated millions of books to schools and libraries in across the United States.