Published: August 07, 2008 09:15 pm      

Carter group wants books

Working to set up distribution program for children

GRAYSON — Every child deserves a book to read.

That’s the simple premise on which a dedicated group in Carter County is basing efforts to launch a book-distribution program.

First Book Carter County is working to set up a continuing program to distribute, for free, new books to low income children in the county.

“Carter County is not exactly the richest county and a lot of people can’t really afford to buy books. They have bills to pay and mouths to feed,” said Rebecca Wente, a junior at East Carter High School.

Wente is on the group’s advisory board, a local volunteer group hoping to raise money to start buying books.

Working through the national First Book program, local advisory committees raise funds and select recipients — usually schools, Head Start programs and the like — and then select books to give to children.

To qualify, the children served by recipient groups must be at least 80 percent low income.

Choosing the books through discounted publisher catalogs, the committees distribute, at no cost to the children, from four to a dozen brand-new books apiece per year.

The books are top quality, generally from the same stock as those distributed through school book sales, said advisory board member Janet Wente, Rebecca’s mother and a counselor at Catlettsburg Elementary School.

The advisory board will work with recipient groups to choose age-appropriate books fitting the educational needs of children.

The advisory board is poised to launch a fundraising campaign; they’ll be asking area businesses and people to help out, Rebecca Wente said. The national program provides a first shipment of books, but local programs are expected to be self-sustaining after that, she said.

If Carter County’s group can match the pace of a similar program in Boyd County, they should do well.

First Book in Boyd County is now in its fifth year and distributes some 5,000 books to 700 children per year, said community education program director Bill Burch.

Carter County children need books, he said. For one thing, the county doesn’t have a public library.

Studies cited by First Book show there are about 13 books per child in middle-class neighborhoods, but more like 300 children per book in low-income neighborhoods.

Once a shipment of books is in hand and the board has decided on an appropriate recipient group, Rebecca Wente hopes to organize a reading celebration to bring children and their families together to accept the books.

For more information or to donate, call Pam Kouns, treasurer of the Carter board, at (606) 474-2008 or e-mail at pam.kouns@carter.kyschools.us.

The national organization’s Web site is at www.firstbook.org.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.