TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD: Teacher Builds Library In Her Garage
Jennifer Martin, a reading teacher at an elementary school near Austin, Texas, has been collecting thousands of books over the last few years. She now makes them available to kids in her neighborhood in a free library she’s opened in her garage. The 20-year teaching veteran says the nearest public library is 15 miles away from the school where she teaches, so she wanted to help the kids who live nearby have access to books.
“It was a no-brainer,” Martin explains. “In order to create a lifelong reader, a student has to find the joy of reading.”
Her library operates on an honor system that lets kids check out two books at a time and they’re allowed to keep them for as long as they want. When they return those, they can get two more. Martin says between 40% and 50% of the kids from her school live in her neighborhood, so many of them are now getting to read more, and hopefully becoming lifelong readers, all thanks to her.