Area elementary students receive free books through federal grant

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Children at Sudduth Elementary in Starkville were jumping for joy… Literally.

“Reading to Succeed” is a federal grant that supplies about 2,500 books to students from pre-k to 5th grade in the Starkville-Oktibbeha School District.

Each book comes with activities and trivia for students to do at home.

“I really hope that they go home and get their parents excited about reading to them and with them. Of course, it is a chapter book, so the younger students will have to be read to. We hope that the parents will really engage their children with that,” said project director Susan Barlow.

“I really want these texts and the books that they are being able to take home to spark just a love of reading and a love of literacy and being engrossed in a book and learning all the skills and techniques that it takes to read, but doing that at home with thEIr families,” said Sudduth Elementary principal Morgan Abraham.

The Grant also helps provide for Little Free Libraries across the state.