Boston Book Festival Donates Books and Funds to Curley K-8 in Jamaica Plain

Last week, organizers of The Boston Book Festival visited Jamaica Plain's Curley K-8 school to deliver the results of its recent "Shelf Help" efforts to donate books and funds to this public school's soon to be reopened library.

The effort, begun in September, invited bookstores, book publishers, and citizens to donate books (or funds to purchase books) to the Curley Library. This year, Curley K-8 will re-open its library, which was closed in 2012 due to budget cuts. The "Shelf Help" wish list included award-winning children's books published since the library closed, drawn largely from the American Library Association's Newbery, Caldecott, and Coretta Scott King Award programs. The Curley School was selected after a competitive citywide application process, which encouraged teachers, parents, and library professionals to propose how their school would benefit from a donation of new books and funds.

Book donations (five dozen) included titles from publishers Candlewick Press, Penguin Young Readers, HarperCollins, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The BBF's fundraising efforts also delivered a check for over $5,500 (representing major gifts from the Shah Family Foundation and from Connie Coburn as well as smaller individual donations) toward buying more books to replenish the shelves.

Further, to celebrate the re-opening of the Curley school's library, Boston Book Festival, in partnership with the Wondermore organization, presented award-winning children's book author and artist Javaka Steptoe at the Curley school this past October in conjunction with the 9th annual Boston Book Festival.

"We are so glad that publishers and donors stepped up to support this worthwhile effort," shares Boston Book Festival founder and Executive Director Deborah Z Porter. "It's important for everyone to do their part to ensure that the joy of reading starts early, and in the schools."

"The entire Curley community, from students to teachers to parents and staff, is fiercely dedicated to making sure that all of our students can thrive and reach their fullest potential, and a modern library is critical to this goal," said Katherine Grassa, Principal of the Curley K-8 school. "We are all grateful for the Curley Library Committee's commitment to bringing back a fully functioning, vibrant library to serve our more than 900 students."

The Curley Library Committee's vision includes both old and new media that will capture the imagination and aspirations of students and teachers alike, including an updated collection of new books to support students' literacy development and personal reading interests, and the technology and online resources to allow students to research, collaborate, and present information in line with digital expectations of the current generation of learners. Many Curley K-8 students are from families with very limited means - universal free breakfast and free lunch are available to all Curley students - and thus have limited access to computers, books and online resources.

Patrons are invited to view Curley's library book "wish list" by visiting http://www.btsb.com/sosl/curleyk8school/wishlist/ and may make financial donations by visiting http://www.curleyk8.com/library/. The Boston Book Festival plans to repeat this initiative at a different school in 2018 and will put out a call for proposals in the spring of 2018.

About the Boston Book Festival

The Boston Book Festival celebrates the power of words to stimulate, educate, agitate, unite, delight, and inspire by holding year-round events culminating in an annual, free festival that promotes a culture of reading and ideas and enhances the vibrancy of the City of Boston. The 2018 festival-the tenth annual even-will take place on October 13throughout Boston's Copley Square. http://www.bostonbookfest.org/

Photo Credit: Gaelen Morse