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A Community Collaborates to Share the Gift of Reading

Categories: EMPOWERMENT AND SUCCESS: Student Enrichment, Students, Education,

For students attending Cranberry Elementary School in North Port, the holiday season got off to a spectacular start, thanks to the generosity of local Barnes & Noble customers. For several weeks in November and December, shoppers at the bookstore were offered the opportunity to add a new children’s book to their purchase, to be donated to a child for the holidays. And boy, did those shoppers come through! Customers purchased over 800 new books to be donated, tempted by the wonderful titles selected by the Barnes & Noble staff and motivated by a desire to share their love of reading.

Cranberry Elementary was the lucky school selected to receive all the new books. After a holiday concert by the afterschool club the Acousticats, performers and their siblings, together with their parents, were able to select a new book to take home and start building their own personal libraries. Books were also distributed during classes in the Media Center.

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“Our students love to read! We were so excited to send them home for winter break with such interesting and engaging books! You know what they say - today’s readers are tomorrow’s leaders,” said Alison Rini, Assistant Principal of Cranberry Elementary School.

Thanks to the generosity of our community, Sarasota County will have many readers – and leaders – for years to come.