In an age where the Internet offers instant access to information, the library at Noble Middle School wasn’t keeping up. The school’s media coordinator, Gretchen Nash, was worried that the outdated collection would turn kids off of reading. However, a $5,000 grant from the Landfall Foundation recently allayed her concerns by providing the school’s students with a fresh selection of timely books.
“Pluto is not a planet. Ice was discovered on Mars. Terrorists attacked America. Dean Smith passed away. A lot has happened since 1999 — the average age of the Noble Middle School library’s nonfiction collection,” Nash said. “It’s disheartening for me to help kids search for books on Carolina basketball or supernovas and either come up empty-handed or give them an outdated book. If we keep sending kids away from the library without something they really want to read they’ll eventually stop coming.”
To help find the books that students would want to read, Nash turned to her students, who helped her select an array of new books for the library. They included a wide range of sports books, including books on the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bulls and New York Jets.
Eighth-grader Elijah Sutton helped select the sports books, making sure to include other football books, including one on his favorite, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“I learned a lot about their history,” Sutton said, noting that his favorite player was Le’Veon Bell.
Tanner Jones, an eighth grader, wanted the selection to include plenty of books about basketball.
“Everyone plays basketball,” Jones said. “I figured a lot of students would want to read more about it.”
Sixth-grader Taylor Chism included books on the World Cup champion USA women’s soccer team and an instruction book on girls’ lacrosse.
“I feel like kids would read more soccer and books about athletes if they were more updated,” Chism said.
Nash noted that finding sports books geared to girls can be difficult and it took a lot of searching to find some of the titles.
Eighth-grader Alex Beste, who is a fan of the “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” movies, wanted to see more up-to-date books on dinosaurs.
“Our library was seriously lacking updated information about dinosaurs,” said Beste, who found a book with plenty of visuals depicting the latest in scientific discovery on the ancient creatures. “The artist is very good and it has some of the feathered and hairy dinosaurs that actually existed.”
Another popular selection was a series of graphic novels on Greek and Roman mythology.
“These are comic books that tell the story of the mythology,” Beste said. “Kids were trying to check them out before they were even laminated.”
Seventh-grader Ella Gordon helped balance the selection of books to include titles on the arts, actresses and baking.
“I’m a dancer and I want to be an actress so I love books that have to do with the arts,” Gordon said.
Nash used student input to guide selection of the new book collection of nearly 300 hardback books. The goal was to buy books that met students’ reading interests apart from the books required for the curriculum. Students were invited to the library to pick out books online that interested them, which not only made the students feel independent but also sparked more interest in the library.
Teachers at Noble Middle School are thrilled to have the new availability of books in their library.
Jennifer Waring, language arts teacher, expressed her excitement over the new collection.
“Our librarian has always done a great job stocking our library with the latest, most popular fiction novels for the kids to enjoy,” Waring said. “I am so excited that Mrs. Nash received this grant for our school so that she can begin to do the same for our non-fiction section. This is the genre that is most difficult for students and the one that they like to read the least.”
Intern Elizabeth Weaver contributed to this story.
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