A Community Collaborates to Share the Gift of Reading

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.

“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.