BALTIMORE — Its Book Fair Week at Abbottston Elementary School in North Baltimore, made possible by donations through the Scripps Howard Fund "If You Give a Child a Book..." campaign.
In 2022, WMAR collected nearly $10,000 in donations during a book drive. The money went toward purchasing 1,900 books from Scholastic Books, allowing each student to take home five books for free and donating 150 books to the school's library.
Some of the students don't have their own, at-home library. Part of the mission of "If You Give a Child a Book..." is to provide underserved students the tools to develop a love of reading and improve their literacy skills.
"What this means for the children to apply their new learning their new reading skills to a book that they personally selected for themselves, that’s where the magic starts to happen," said Cathy Miles, principal of Abbottston Elementary.
"Children go into another world, they go into whatever the world the story is in the book. That exploration is huge by way of college prep, by thinking of other opportunities they may have versus never knowing what opportunities there are. It opens up a whole world," she said.
To make a donation to the book drive, click here.
