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Putting students in the story

Personalized books motivate first-graders to read

Jymir Octcalt sat on Bill Walters’ lap, ready to read from a new book just delivered by Bill and other Kiwanians to the first-grader’s Pennsylvania elementary school.

Jymir Octcalt is thrilled to hear about his adventures in Little One, Little One, Where Have You Gone, read by Kiwanian Bill Walters.

First-graders stretch out on their classroom floor to read books given to them by the Easton Kiwanis club.

Jymir didn’t know that this book was unlike any he’d ever seen.

“Hey, that’s my picture! And that’s my name!” the boy exclaimed as he turned the first few pages. He grinned at Bill. “Is this my book? Can I take it home?”

More than 650 first-graders like Jymir were grinning at themselves in books throughout the Easton Area School District that day, all because of a collaboration involving Bill’s Kiwanis Club of Easton, businesses, and a publisher that produces personalized books for children.

Bill, club secretary, says the project was a natural extension of Kiwanis International’s focus on literacy.

“This was an easy project for the Easton club to do,” he explains. “The vendor found businesses to sponsor ads, which covered the cost of producing the books. We were the only service organization he invited to take part. Our share (of the cost) was just $700.”

The vendor then worked directly with the school district to weave children’s names and school photos into the stories.

Once the books were ready for delivery, Kiwanians toted them to six elementary schools. Bill had a ball.

“The surprised look and laughter from the children was so amazing,” he says. “One child screeched, ‘My very own book!’ There’s no price you can put on bringing joy to a child.”

He and other club members took time to read with the kids.

“To sit with a group of children as they read to you and hear one of them whispering a word to help their friend was so rewarding. You had to be there to truly appreciate it,” Bill says. “A personalized book was a wonderful thing to give them.”

In Easton, however, literacy is not a once-a-year focus. The Kiwanians encourage reading throughout the year.

“Rather than give an honorarium to guest speakers, our club asks them to autograph books, which we then take to an agency that needs them,” he says.

Easton also asks club members to read to kids and collects children’s books for social service organizations.

“We’re buying new books of various age levels in case lots,” he says. “Then we’ll place a sticker inside identifying them as coming from Easton Kiwanis. We distribute these to social agencies, not only to bring books to families who need them, but to spread the word about how much Kiwanians care about literacy.”—Cindy Dashnaw