This is a guest post from Ellie Radaj, Library Media Specialist at Pinewood Elementary in Monticello, MN. Read more about our Extended Mini Grant Program or fill out one of our applications. This program is only available during the FY21 school year.

Pinewood Elementary says a big THANK YOU! to the CMLE for their Mini-Grant program.

When schools shut down in March of 2020, our library, like everyone else, was a bit unprepared.  Our large elementary school was caught with almost 2,000 library books checked out to students and staff. 

Over the course of the spring and fall, our library staff took concerted efforts to regain as many books as possible, but we knew for certain that we did not want students or their families to be burdened by paying for lost books during such a time of chaos and uncertainty.  Instead, in October we wrote off the remaining 80 unreturned books as a loss.  

Unfortunately, nearly half of those unreturned books were from our most popular topics and series – Minecraft, Pokemon, Marvel, Wimpy Kid, Dog Man, Raina Telegemeier – and while they were a small portion of our total collection, the loss hit hard, and the students noticed many of their favorite books missing.  

This spring, we reached out to CMLE to inquire about the Mini-Grant, and received funding to replace many of these popular books!  We were able to purchase over 60 brand new books for our collection from Barnes and Noble using their educator discount, and the students noticed as soon as they started to hit the shelves! 

As we processed the books a few at a time, the excitement was palpable. These are the books that make our students love the library, that spark their attention and pull them into reading.  We love being able to provide students with books that fuel their passions and open the door for life-long readers.

Our students say a huge THANK YOU!