Lovejoy’s Libros

Because the achievement gap is of great concern to us, as we know it is to you, we are committed to addressing this issue.

It is an obvious fact that children who have more books in their homes, read more, and those who read more, do better in school. Research has shown that most children in schools with a high percentage of "at promise" children have few, if any, books in their homes.

Lovejoy’s Libros, under the umbrella of the nonprofit Generación Floreciente, was developed to specifically address this issue.

How the program works: People from the community donate children’s books that are in good condition to Lovejoy’s Libros. A school that would like to participate sends a facilitator ( a teacher, a staff person, a parent, a volunteer, etc.) to a 1 hour training for $25. At the training this facilitator learns how to run a successful, effective bookstore and also receives 100 books (right now 90 in English and 10 in Spanish) to start. The facilitator then sets up a bookstore in the school at least once a month where all the books are sold to students and/or their parents (not teachers and staff unless buying them to give to the children to take home) for $.25 or less. The facilitator can return again and again during the school year for another 100 books when needed without any extra cost. With the money collected and with donated money, Lovejoy’s Libros buys books in Spanish and other languages when needed and when they can be found.

The following are some of the questions that have been asked:

Question #1: Why the charge? When the students or parents pay for a book, no matter how little, it gives them a sense of ownership, and they value the book more. We felt that $.25 was affordable for almost any family, and they are able to choose the books they want.

Question #2: Why Spanish books? Research has and is continually showing that the more literate a child is in his/her first language, the easier it will be to become literate in English. Therefore, we want to provide parents and students with quality books in Spanish. We will do the same for other languages as we can.

Question #3: Why don't we just teach them to use the library? There is absolutely no question that we need to teach parents and students how to use the school library and the public library. Yet, there is something special about owning your own books. Why shouldn’t we provide both opportunities for them?

Lovejoy’s Libros mission which is to get comprehensible books in English and Spanish (and other languages) into the hands and homes of our “at promise” children by making them affordable, We encourage schools with a high percentage of “at promise” students to seriously consider participating in the Lovejoy’s Libros Program. We also encourage others to help support this program by donating children’s books and or money to buy books in other languages.

Thank you for your consideration. To sign up for the program and/or for more information, Barbara Lovejoy can be contacted at bclovejoy@msn.com or (801) 466-1117.