Swanson Elementary wins the gift of reading

PALMER — A monetary gift from a well-known author to Swanson Elementary School has reminded librarian Kim Evans how much she loves her job.

After teaching at the K-2 school for 12 years, Evans assumed her post in the library in the fall of 2014.

“I’ve always liked (reading) the books the best,” she said, scanning books for students in the library last week. “It’s the best part of every day.”

Though she “never gets tired” of reading the same book to students multiple times a day or year, Evans knew her school needed some new material.

This summer, with encouragement from a former Swanson teacher, she applied for James Patterson’s $1.75 Million Pledge to Libraries through Scholastic Reading Club. Swanson Elementary was one of three Alaskan winners and 467 nationwide, chosen from 27,924 applications.

“I was so pleased when I found out we would able to improve our collection,” said Swanson principal Mary Kate Johnson, after hearing of her librarian’s success.

Evans said the first step is to weed out the so-called “classics” that children seem to pass over time and time again.

“I’ve seen some books over there that are from the ’60s, and it shows,” she said, gesturing to the library’s shelves.

With the help of a student and staff committee (which hasn’t been formed yet), Evans said she intends to purchase books tailored to small-group, in-classroom reading, as well as general circulation graphic novels, which she said are a good transition from picture books to full-text books.

“Graphic novels are great for struggling readers — they’re very high interest, and they’re easy to read,” she said.

Swanson will receive $5,000 from Patterson’s pledge, to be matched by the Scholastic Reading Club with “bonus points” that Evans and her selection committee can spend on Scholastic books and materials.

Reading incentives

The Palmer elementary school has also been the beneficiary of the Masonic “Bikes for Books” program, supported locally by Matanuska Masonic Lodge No. 7, Walmart and the Swanson Parent-Teacher Association. The program collects tax-deductible donations from a specified community to purchase bicycles for children, which at Swanson are raffled off at the end of the year. Each student needs only to complete his or her weekly reading homework for a raffle ticket, and there is no limit to how many raffle tickets a student can accumulate, Evans said.

Swanson students are also encouraged to be good stewards of the libraries resources. To keep their checked-out books in good condition, each student is given a closeable plastic bag to keep materials clean and dry when not reading. They also know to put books back on the shelf spine out, call number down, and to sit “silent, straight, still and smiling” when listening to a reader.

“You tend to have less behavior problems (during library time), ’cause they really wanna hear a story,” Evans said. “Everybody likes to be read to, everybody.”

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.