Carpenter Elementary chosen to receive grant from author James Patterson

DOWNEY -- Carpenter Elementary School received a $4,000 grant last week from bestselling author James Patterson to support its school library.

In addition, Scholastic Reading Club will match each dollar of Patterson’s donation with “bonus points” that teachers can use to acquire books and other materials for their classrooms.

Carpenter Elementary was selected among thousands of applications for funding grants.

James Patterson and Scholastic Reading Club announced in March 2016 that Patterson would donate $1.75 million to save school libraries nationwide in the second installment of his School Library Campaign. As part of an ongoing effort to keep books and reading a number one priority in the United States, selected school libraries will be receiving grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.

Since the grant program’s launch in 2015, Patterson has donated $3.5 million to school libraries nationwide, with all funds are being personally donated by Patterson.

"I’ve made it my mission to underscore the vital role reading plays in children’s lives and the need to sustain school libraries is at the heart of that mission,” says Patterson.

In the first-ever partnership of its kind, Patterson joined forces with Scholastic Reading Club to administer funding applications to their network of 62,000 schools and 800,000 teachers.

“The funds from the grant will be used to bolster our book collection at Carpenter, purchase reading furniture for the library and support book-related prizes for Carpenter's new club; Book Club O-Rama,” expressed Karen Beliakoff, grant applicant and Carpenter Elementary teacher. “Our goal is to share our love of reading and to help everyone at Carpenter find their inner bookworm!”

Schools entering were asked to share the story of their school library, including past efforts to make improvements and “great ideas to help create a brighter future.” Patterson personally read and selected the winning recipients of the grants. 

“Last year’s ‘Patterson Pledge’ showed communities nationwide how important school libraries are, but also how gravely desperate they are for books to fill their shelves in the midst of steep budget cuts,” said Judy Newman, President of Scholastic Reading Club.  

 “The amazing outpouring from schools combined with the continued generosity of James Patterson helped us solidify a second year of grants to help more children have access to high-quality books and, ultimately, revive school libraries. We are proud to announce this year’s new grant recipients and thank James Patterson for his continued personal commitment to save school libraries.”

Based on past winners, school libraries across the country have been using this funding to purchase new books, add bookshelves, make improvements to their catalog systems, and expand their programming

The full list of grant recipients is available online here.