Taking books to children

Getting books in the hands of children is the main purpose of the Pea Ridge Book Bus.

The brain child of teachers Tracy Hager and Ashley Clark, the Pea Ridge Book Bus takes books to children once a week through the summer. This is the second year for the program.

Hager and Clark learned about a Book Bus through a training session for The Leader in Me in 2014. Hager said they heard about another community providing books via a Book Bus and thought: "We've got to get this going in Pea Ridge."

The Leader in Me is a character education program begun in Pea Ridge last year which encourages students to develop their own leadership skills and take ownership of their own education.

"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader," is the mantra. Teachers volunteer their time one morning a week all summer to man the Book Bus and provide books for children.

The school district provided a bus, many people donated books, school employees built shelves and the bus began rolling last summer. This year, there are even more books as a result of a grant received from the James Patterson Scholastic grant and a book fair held at Barnes & Noble.

Books are for all children. Teachers and volunteers meet at Pea Ridge Primary School at 8:30 on Tuesday mornings then the bus rolls out headed to Jones Trailer Park off Gann Ridge Road.

"That's one of our favorite stops," Hager said. "The children are so excited to see us."

"We have great volunteers. There are teachers who go with us every week," she said, adding that there are also students from the National Honor Society who work as volunteers for the Book Bus. "We get great support from the community and teachers. We received tons of book donations."

From Jones Trailer Park, the bus comes back into town to stop on Todd Circle, then heads west on Pickens to stop at the swimming pool in Standing Oaks subdivision. From Standing Oaks, the bus goes to Summitt Meadows Estates (off Slack Street), then to

Windmill Estates (west of Carr Street) and to King's Lane apartments. The final stop is at the Primary School so children who are there for the summer lunch program can stop by for a book and a popsicle.

"If they're visiting the neighborhood where we stop, they're welcome to a book," Hager said. "We go off the honor system. We ask them to bring them back; we don't keep tabs of who has checked out books."

Each child may have two books and a popsicle.

The Book Bus has given students and teachers an opportunity to connect outside of school and see each other thorough a different lens. The bus has not only highlighted the importance of reading and learning, it has taught both children and adults the importance of sharing and learning together. This is one of many ways students and teachers are able to identify and use their own leadership skills, Hager said.

The Book Bus will run each week on Tuesday throughout the summer and make special appearances at community events.