Our Lady of Lourdes students swap books

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School

+ Enlarge

Courtesy of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School

SALT LAKE CITY — Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School students get all excited about their book swaps. They look forward to finding that "special book;" the one that, when they see it, they know it’s "that special book."

That is what most students were heard saying when they came to the school’s stage for the Second Annual Book Swap on May 1. Teachers signed up for an exclusive 30-minute time when the students looked for books. All the grades attended, from pre-K to eighth. The big question on the students’ minds was: "How many books can we take?"

Teachers also had a chance to pick out books that added diversity to their classroom libraries.

The day before, parent volunteers collected books that were brought into the classrooms and arranged them by grade reading level. Our Lady of Lourdes families had the month of April to look through their home libraries for books their family has outgrown. "What a great way to recycle these valuable books," said one fourth grade parent.

Co-chair Nancy Wilsak said she is "grateful for the families who took time to bring into school such quality and beautiful books. These families are the reason why this swap is so successful in the eyes of our children."

A fifth grader squealed with delight when she found a comically written book about young people getting braces. Looking at her smile, she had braces, too. A fourth-grade student asked, "Do you have any books about cowboys?" Fellow students stopped what they were doing and looked for books about cowboys. With no luck finding such a book, the student settled on a book about pirates that a fellow student found for him.

Many students found books that they have not read before and left the swap excited about their choices in books. It was touching when the middle school students walked out of the swap with at least one book for themselves and a book or two for their classroom libraries.

Students from pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade chose books that seemed larger than themselves. Parent volunteers carried these students’ books back to their classrooms for them.

"I saw so many students sharing their interests with each other and the volunteers and their excitement at finding a book or two," said Clay Johnston, a parent of a sixth grader and co-chair of the book swap.

Comprehensive resource books came into the swap and were divided among three grades. The sixth grade received the books on Egypt, while the fourth grade took the books about the pioneer period of the United States of America as well as a book on the 52 states. The fifth grade received about eight books on the solar system, earth history, space and volcanos.

Both students and classroom libraries got new books. By the end of the swap, over 90 percent of the books went somewhere within the school. The remaining books were donated to an organization called Worldwide Books, which collects books and textbooks to donate to qualified organizations such as schools, libraries and domestic and international charities. This organization received 25 science textbooks from the school.

"I have heard nothing but positive feedback on this swap from the parents, teachers and students," said the Home School Association president.