FREE BOOKS

For the last few years, James Patterson has been extremely generous in creating grants for books. He has helped numerous school libraries (I applied, but was not a lucky recipient) as well as small, independent book stores. This year's grant contest is a bit different.

While I wish this opportunity was for the library, I love that James Patterson's generosity is extending this year to the classroom teacher's library. When I taught middle school, I had to build my own classroom library, including a collection of Spanish language novels for my low-level English Language Learners who otherwise found book projects difficult to complete. (By reading the novel in their native Spanish, they could concentrate on the writing project in English and, therefore, improve their written language skills on that particular assignment.)

I hope all of my classroom teacher friends and colleagues take the time to read the grant requirements and apply for this fabulous opportunity. He is giving away $1.75 million in $500 increments so you have a GREAT chance to improve (or start!) a classroom library. While only not everyone will actually receive the grants, if you don't apply, you definitely won't receive it!

James Patterson Classroom Library Grants