As many of you know, I am always trying to find ways to turn the people around me into readers. I strongly believe that there is no single person in the world who does not enjoy reading, there are only people who have not found the genre for them. Last summer I started a book drive to fill my classroom with novels for my students to read. The feedback was overwhelming and it launched into support through many other avenues for the children in my class.

This year, my intention was to branch out and stock classroom libraries in other rooms. The passage of the catastrophic Hurricane Irma put a dampener on this, pun intended. We are back in the swing of things in Anguilla, both in education and in the other industries. Every day I drive around and see more ways in which we have made strides to repair our island.

I take pause, too, to see how something which lasted less than the hours in someone’s work day caused such destruction. 

Some quick points:

• About 90% of the island is still without electricity
• Many students lost things during the storm which could not withstand water
• Almost every teacher on island has been affected by this storm

I’ve been making mention on my Facebook page of how the lack of electricity and WiFi has led to a revolutionary realization for some students: reading can be entertaining.

This is the perfect time to capitalize on creating new readers and continuing to grow the affiliation for the pastime which other students foster. To this end, I am challenging myself to place a book in each child’s hand. Maybe, even when the WiFi returns, they will keep it there.

If you are interested in helping, here are the wish lists I have created with the input from my students:

Books for High Schoolers: http://a.co/i1l0QSA

Books for Primary Schoolers: http://a.co/bbSTJqX

As always, your help is greatly appreciated.