‘Gift of Reading’ draws kids into free book fair
Selections range from preschool to high school, from STEM to sports
Dozens of local children huddled around tables at the Gary Teachers Union on Dec. 23 to pore over new books to read over their holiday break.
The books spanned the spectrum from preschool to high school, from STEM to sports. There were comics, alphabet books and biographies, and a little Harry Potter.
The American Federation of Teachers provided the books at the “Gift of Reading” event coordinated by the Gary AFT Local 4, the AFL-CIO and the Gary Community School Corp.
Aaliyah Isabel, 10, checked out a biography of Olympic track start Florence Griffith Joyner.
“I like track and want to do it,” said the Williams Elementary fifth-grader. She quickly filled her bag with other books, as well, demonstrating a wide variety of interests.
“I want to be a doctor,” she said.
Demarius Toney, 10, of Portage, picked “High School Musical,” saying he saw the movie and it’s the type of book he likes to read.
Tomeka Pope, a Project Lead the Way teacher at Williams, said another popular book was a biography, “Opal Lee and What it Means to Be Free.” Only one or two copies remained midway through the event.
It chronicles the campaign of Black activist Opal Lee, a retired teacher, who championed a Juneteenth national holiday. At age
“I’m a union member and there’s a big push for boys to read. … Dominick doesn’t like to read and Jaxon loves nonfiction books with pictures of real animals.”
— Lovely Bowman, a special education teacher at Glen Park Academy, on her two boys
89 in 2016, she walked from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington to galvanize Congressional support for the holiday that marks the end of slavery in the U.S.
President Joe Biden signed the law establishing it as a national holiday in 2021 with Lee at his side.
Lovely Bowman, a special education teacher at the Glen Park Academy, brought her two boys, Jaxon, 6, and Dominick, 7, Cobb to find new books.
“I’m a union member and there’s a big push for boys to read. … Dominick doesn’t like to read and Jaxon loves nonfiction books with pictures of real animals.”
Kiarica Law, of Portage, brought her three children King 11, Legend, 4, and Empress, 2, Hodge.
The kids checked out books on the tables and Empress, a Head Start student, stared wide-eyed at some of the covers.
“Empress always wants me to read her stories,” said Law.