FARMINGTON – It is no secret that the librarians of the Mt. Blue district are adept at doing a great deal with very little. At right you can see Betsy Turcotte of Mallett School leading Mallett’s annual book character parade in her fabulous Bad Kitty costume. At left, you’ll find one of the amazing Mayan Temples that Barb Marshall of Cascade Brook School coaxed from students just for the chance to eat lunch with the Jaguar Stones authors in conjunction with their visit recently.
For all the high quality, low budget creativity on display in our district libraries, even they cannot conjure new books from out of thin air in these times of lean budgets. Yet exciting new books appearing from popular series are eagerly anticipated by young school library patrons, and are the life blood of promoting the love of reading in our schools.
With this in mind, DDG and the Mt. Blue RSD School libraries came up with an idea last year for giving area residents an opportunity to provide the handful of fresh titles that the libraries so strongly need: DDG’s Mt. Blue RSD Wish List center. The Wish List was a giant success last year and we’re pleased to announce that it is open again for 2011.
Visit and you’ll find a wish list of titles hand-selected by our area school librarians. All purchases further support the library in that DDG will be donating 20 percent of all Wish List proceeds towards the library as well. Stop by The Wish List Center and have a look.
The Wish List is only one part of the Mt. Blue RSD School Libraries fundraiser, though. The second part is a district wide In Store Book Fair at DDG coming right up during The Chester Greenwood Weekend! Twenty percent of all your purchase will go the school library of your choice, so put your earmuffs on and venture out this weekend to support our school libraries!
And – thanks to you too, Kenny! Your efforts – and DDG – have enabled us to enjoy many literary treats, authors, special events. Managing the ‘Wish List’ is a good example of that. Thanks again for what you do to support our awesome librarians and our students!
Congratulations to Mallett School and DD&G for exemplifying exactly what our education system needs more of: great teachers. The best teachers work with what they have and produce the best outcome. Throwing money at the problem does not always provide the best educational outcome, because a true education is a relationship between the student and the teacher. Without the best teachers, we don’t have the people who love to teach our children. My history teacher once told me teaching is a calling and I completely agree, because only a select few have the capacity and the love to teach. As a community, we can find alternative means to supporting our schools, not just throwing a piece of the budget at the situation.