The library at Campus Middle School was literally a carnival.
As students poured into the room, their faces lit up as they saw the games, prizes, and snacks that filled the space. The school was celebrating its 11th year of the “1 Book, 1 Campus” program with the book “The Cursed Carnival,” a collection of short stories presented by popular author Rick Riordan and an array of other diverse authors, who explore their own culture’s mythology.
“1 Book, 1 Campus builds a community around reading for the sake of reading,” Campus’ librarian Derek Phelan said. “We gave out 400 free books this year and we really want to promote the joy of reading and literacy to create lifelong readers. Being able to read for joy is a gift we want all of our students to have.”
Carnival music and the smell of popcorn filled the air as students cheered one another while playing Spin the Wheel, Pick the Duck, and other games. Students won tickets that could be turned in for prizes.
Phelan wanted to encourage students to read for joy without including an assignment or project to the book and has been proud to be a part of this program for the past 11 years. Several sixth-grade students who attended the carnival shared their passion for reading.
“I really like reading because it can take you away from things and give you an escape,” said Maisie Greene.
“I like reading because it puts me in a whole other dimension and I can imagine things that I normally couldn’t,” Kaylee Smaling shared.
“When I’m stressed or am upset sometimes, I read to calm myself down,” Joshua Lieberman said. “It’s a really fun way to take care of yourself.”
“You can find a lot of different books and different genres and you can learn a lot of things,” Giavanna Curcio explained.
“You can discover so much more stuff that you never knew before when you read,” Oyundelger Erdenekhuleg added.
Posted 10/18/23.
