150-plus books donated to Vista Alternative
Teacher hopes to get students reading
This past summer, local teacher Hilary Brown took action to ensure her students not only read, but understood the impact books can have on readers.
Vista Alternative High School received a donation of more than 150 books from members of the Yuma community that were matched to students in Brown’s English and literature classes.
To enhance the experience for students, the books were accompanied by personalized letters from the donors that explained why the book was meaningful. Brown said she began to work on the project and put out a call to the community for donations and letters this past summer.
“This is my second year at Vista,” Brown said in a phone interview with the Yuma Sun. “Last year I did a lot of things to get my students reading, but I felt like they were hearing it from me everyday. I wanted there to be more voices in my room telling them how books had been meaningful to them.
“Also, since we didn’t have a library, I wanted to create that for them in a meaningful way,” she added. “I just worked on it throughout the summer and I feel like it was really helpful for them to have people of all different backgrounds and different careers sharing a book with them.”
Brown said that on the first day of school, students participated in what Brown referred to as “Speed Dating a Book.” She explained that the students filled out interest inventories to find their “type,” then took time reading the letters sent by community members.
The educator herself played the role of “matchmaker,” as students were then matched with a book based on their top three book-love interests. Brown said students have begun reading books and have also sent letters in response to the person who wrote in the front cover of their chosen book.
Brown noted that she felt it was “really important for students to see that the community was willing to invest in them not just with money but with time and with pieces of their heart.
“Students now have a connection with hopefully someone else who could be a positive role model,” Brown said. “I have had a couple of students tell me that they feel like their book chose them. That’s really powerful too that they feel like they’ve made a connection that’s strong enough that they feel it was meant to be. They have a relationship with these books.”