Brianna Smalls of St. George wanted to help children and teens
improve their reading skills, expand their knowledge and open new
worlds by reading. She got her chapter advisor of Family, Career and
Community Leaders of America for Woodland High School to chaperon and
supervise the club’s donation of books. The donation amounted to 80
school age books to Curious Minds Daycare. The donation distribution
began December 2021 and will occur every December going forward. This
Gold Award project is a reading literacy program Brianna titled “Get
Hooked On A Book – A Voyage to Discovery.”
Brianna also started an online teen book club on the Dorchester County Library website. This was online due to continued Covid restrictions. The program transitioned to in-person as well once that was an option. The Youth Services Librarian of the St. George Library, Kathy Sanders visited the children in Brianna’s outreach monthly as a liaison and supporter. She has committed to continuing that partnership.
With Getting Hooked On a Book’s sustainability, the joy of reading and learning will help strengthen the reading skills of children and help build their self-confidence. The teen book club and their deeper exploration and interaction of discussion will not only strengthen the reading skills but their conversation, discussion, and debate skills in talking about the books. This helps build the confidence of the teens as they voyage to Discover new strengths, improved skills, relationships and worlds.
