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Q.
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What kind of books does Book Worm Angels want? |
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New or gently used books for enjoyment reading – fun books – suitable for children from pre-kindergarten through the 8th grade. No encyclopedias, textbooks or religious books, please. |
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| Q. |
How do you collect your books? |
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Book drives are held schools, churches, synagogues and community organizations. We provide a “Book Drive Kit.” Once the drive is over, we pick up the books. |
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| Q. |
How many books can you expect from a book drive? |
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Typically, we collect around 1,500 books per drive. We have had much greater results when there has been good publicity and incentives, such as pizza parties, provided by the drive organizers. |
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| Q. |
I thought schools had their own libraries, including schools in the Chicago inner city. Why do they need books? |
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Most schools do have libraries. Usually, however, the kids can't take the books home - they must use them in school. In addition, the range of books for the pure entertainment of reading is somewhat limited, especially in the troubled schools |
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| Q. |
So where do the books you provide go? To the library? |
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No, they go directly into the classrooms. When the books are delivered to the schools, they are laid out on tables where the teachers select the books they feel appropriate for their classes. So, all in all, the right books get to the right classes. |
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| Q. |
You've said there is no penalty if a book is lost or damaged. Don't you lose a lot of books? |
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Our experience is a loss of 5-7%. If a book is "lost," it may have found its way to someone's home library, and that's OK with us! Our goal is to make it a lot easier and less "threatening" for a kid to borrow a book. In any event, every year we replenish the books for every school in the program equal to about 25% of the number of books they were originally given. This means that every 4 to 5 years the schools have a complete turnover of "new" books. |
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| Q. |
What schools receive the books you collect? |
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The books go to Chicago Public Schools where over 60% of students read below grade level. We are currently in 68 schools. Our plan is to help all the troubled schools in Chicago…and expand the program to other cities throughout Illinois and the United States. |
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| Q. |
So your mission is getting “fun” books into the classrooms? |
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It's more than that. As we say in our mission statement:
To develop regular reading habits among children in elementary schools where most of the children are reading below grade level. |
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| Q. |
How can I help? |
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Organize a book drive, volunteer, or make a donation.
If you'd be interested in organizing a book drive: call Mindy Ferber at 773-332-8091.
For information on volunteering: call Mike Ban, 847-471-BOOK (2665).
To make a donation, please send checks payable to Book Worm Angels to: Book Worm Angels, c/o Mike Ban, 3100 N. Sheridan Road, Suite 4B, Chicago, IL 60657-4956.We'll send you a receipt with our thanks. We're a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, registered with both the federal and state governments.
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| Q. |
How many books are needed? |
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We give each school in our program 7 - 10 books per student. Most schools have about 600 students. So, we need 6,000 books to “open” a new school. Then, since there is no penalty for lost or damaged books, we replenish the books each year. On average, it takes about 1,500 books per year to maintain each school. |
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| Q. |
Is there any way to quantify the success of the program? |
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We conduct an annual survey of teachers who participate in the program. 84.9% of the respondents believe Book Worm Angels' program improves reading skills and encourages students to read more. The improvement in reading test scores in schools which have had the Book Worm Angels program for more than 6 months was more than double the all-school average improvement. |
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| Q. |
You try to get parents involved? |
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Yes. The principal sends a letter home to parents asking them to turn off their radios, TVs, CD players, and spend 20 minutes a day reading with their child. A lot of the parents choose books for their children that they would also enjoy reading. So, we think, we're helping the children AND the parents learn how to enjoy reading more. |
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| Q. |
Do parents of children in these troubled schools really get involved? |
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Not 100% of them. But a lot of them do spend the requested 20 minutes a day reading with their children. Further, the schools have "Reading Nights" and the schools give a book to any parent who comes. One child's parents recently told a principal that after the children go to bed, they read the books their kids have brought home to each other. So the program is working on different levels. |
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| Q. |
When you have book drives, do you get the books you want -- new or slightly used fun books suitable for Pre-K through 8th grades? |
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Yes! 99% of the books we receive are appropriate. Very few donors are using this as an opportunity to "clean out their attics." |
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| Q. |
The Chicago schools are now writing as well as reading. Does Book Worm Angels help in this area as well? |
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Yes. In the "Teacher's Manual" we give to each principal and teacher, there are a number of suggested forms and ideas about how do to books reports. Some are outlines to encourage the children to submit written book reports. |
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| Q. |
The program sounds too good to be true. What weak spots are there in it? |
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The one weak area we have is that we get many more books for lower grades than we do for the upper grades. That is natural, since parents seem to buy books for their children when they are younger...and as the child gets into upper grades, the public library is used more and more, so fewer books are bought. Therefore, we don't get as many books as we'd like for the older kids. But the principals are happy with what they receive – very happy!. |
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| Q. |
Is this program limited to Chicago schools? |
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At present, our program is directed toward Chicago Public Schools that are on probation (over 60% of the children are reading BELOW grade level). However, as we learn of schools outside of Chicago, we see no reason why these cities can't be helped, too. In time, we envision this concept going from the Chicago area to cities across the U.S. |
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| Q. |
Are donations of books to Book Worm Angels deductible as a charitable gift? |
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Yes. Book Worm Angels is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. |
