Brookwood Village event features book drive, festivities for kids

Last year Homewood kids helped give more than 30,000 books to other kids.

Through Birmingham Reads, Homewood-based Better Basics collects books for its literacy programs in high-needs schools while creating literacy awareness in communities like Homewood. 

“It’s a great way to build diversity in the community,” said Executive Director Karen Kapp. “It pulls folks from all parts of the city together to celebrate reading.”

For the third year in a row, Edgewood, Shades Cahaba and Hall-Kent elementary schools are participating in a competition to collect the most new or gently used books from April 7-17.

 “All children need books in their homes to read, and the more books they read, the better readers they become,” Kapp said. “Through Better Basics programs, we try to match interest levels with reading levels and provide books that correlate. We want kids to read for pleasure. The gap is widening between affluent and low-income students, and we are working to provide equitable resources for all kids.”

The books that are collected are then distributed throughout the school year to kids in Better Basics’ eight programs. Because of the Birmingham Reads drive, the organization is able to put tens of thousands of books into homes, Kapp said. 

On Friday, April 18, Better Basics will be in front of Books-A-Million at Colonial Brookwood Village starting at 4:30 a.m. to collect books from schools as well as community members.

“A lot of people hear about it on Alabama’s 13 that morning and come by with a box of books that day,” Kapp said. “It’s a great way for the entire community to celebrate reading and promote literacy. There are 90,000 illiterate adults in central Alabama, and the more we can do to create awareness about it, the better.”

The week culminates in a festival held in partnership with the Junior League of Birmingham at Colonial Brookwood Village on Saturday, April 19. From 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Better Basics invites the community to celebrate reading with entertainment and activities for kids as well as their favorite book characters. The book drive will continue during the event, and the winning school will be announced.

At the event, there is also an attendance competition between schools, and the school with the highest attendance —which last year was Hall-Kent — wins a Popsicle party. 

But before both of those days, Better Basics will coordinate around 615 volunteers to read in every elementary school classroom in Birmingham City Schools, all on April 17 at 1 p.m. Each child in every class will also receive a copy of the book — last year that meant more than 13,000 books.

“It’s a great one-time opportunity for folks to go into the schools just for one hour a year,” Kapp said. “It gives them an opportunity to see if they enjoy it, and if they do, they end up volunteering through our regular programming. It gives people in the community the opportunity to give of themselves, and they love it.”

For more, visit betterbasics.org/birminghamreads.