Pop-Up Book Giveaway Gets Children Excited about Reading

To help prepare students for spring break, Ossining held a Pop-Up Book Giveaway at each school on April 12.

Community members, families, teachers and others donated the books for the event. School employees, parents and other volunteers staffed the tables and helped children choose one or two. This was the first districtwide event of its kind.

“The purpose of this event was to promote reading during spring break,” said Megan Mastrogiacomo, the district’s community schools leader. “This was a great opportunity to reach all students and get books into the hands of each of them.”

Some of the classics the students took home were “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

Seventh-grader Frank Alvarez chose “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George and a book called “Monet and the Impressionists for Kids.” He read the George book in fifth grade and it made an impression on him. “This was one of the first books that I really got into,” he said.

Lucy Morrison, who is in seventh grade, said it was a great idea to offer free books. She was one of many Anne M. Dorner Middle School students who found something they liked during lunch period. “I think that it’s good because most people don’t really go and do things in the library,” she said.

At Claremont School, third- and fourth-graders searched for books by their favorite authors. Daniel Perez, who is in fourth grade, wanted to find some non-fiction to dive into over the break. He settled on Weekly Reader’s “States of Matter: Solids.”

“I want to learn about what solids there are in the world and I want to learn new information that I didn’t know before,” he said.

Charlie Fernandes said his choice was easy. He picked “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving “because my teacher lives in Sleepy Hollow.” He is in Leslee Hammer’s fourth-grade class.

Carter Longville, an avid baseball and softball player, knew when she saw “Double Play at Short” that it was the book for her. Written by Matt Christopher, the book is about a boy and girl who face each other in a baseball championship series and learn they are twins who were adopted by different families.

“I play a lot of softball and baseball,” said Carter, a fourth-grader. “A lot of my family members have played and it’s nice to carry on the tradition.”