By Mary Ellen Zangara, Special Writer
Hundreds of books changed owners Friday night, as students from Weston and Roosevelt Schools participated in the schools’ first Book Swap held in the Weston gym, sponsored by the Weston PTA.
”We got the idea to do a book swap and we used it for one of our family nights because we have always done family nights,” Sandra Fisher, PTA president, said.
Students brought books in and received a ticket for each book they brought in. They were then able to come Friday night and go “shopping” for new books.
Books in good condition were put onto tables by grade levels and students redeemed their tickets by picking out books from the huge selections. “We had a lot a lot of books,” said Ms. Fisher.
Students brought as many as 50 books in to redeem for tickets to swap and shop.
”Right now economy is a little rough and at this age, children like books,” Ssecond-grade teacher Laura Landau said. “They don’t have to be brand new, just new to them. It is a lot better for them to trade in a book and get another one to read.”
Students from the school district volunteered their time, along with PTA members, parents, Girl Scouts and 16 teachers to help with the sorting, set up, bagging and cleanup.
”This was a group effort between PTA and teachers,” said Ms. Landau.
The books were sorted by grade, then by titles. Some of the books included “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” “Dora,” “Junie B. Jones,” Disney books and many more.
Books that were not chosen at the end of the night went to the classroom teachers who helped with the swap. If books were still available, Weston librarian Kathy Memoli and the other teachers would get them for their libraries. Leftover books would be donated to the Manville Public Library or somewhere else.
Parent Dawn Thompson thought the book swap was “a wonderful idea,” especially for kids to exchange books they’ve read for some they haven’t, and some they might not otherwise select.
”It was nice because there were books for all levels,” she said. “I was able to get books for not only my older daughter, but for the babies as well. We went home with books for everybody.”
Ms. Thompson hopes that next time they will expand and add books for adults, too.
Her daughter, second-grader Emma, thought it was cool. “If you didn’t like a book and you wanted a new one, it was kind of fun because you could get a new book,” Emma said.
Ms. Fisher was very pleased with the participation for the first-time event.
”We hope to make this an annual event hopefully, each year it will get easier to run and more successful,” she said.
