Students Collect Books to Fill Library’s Nooks

After an animated reading of “Clifford’s Birthday Party,” 11-year-old Esther Zuckerman closed the book and looked down at the five Winnetka Elementary first-graders sitting at her feet.

“This is going to be in your library, so you can read it over and over again,” said the girl wearing red glasses and a purple and gold “Cat in the Hat”-style hat.

Esther was one of 13 students from the Mirman School in the Sepulveda Pass who traveled to Canoga Park on Wednesday to deliver 1,455 books they had collected from family and friends. After dropping off the books in the school library, the Mirman students, 11- and 12-year-olds, picked their favorite stories to read to younger Winnetka students.

“I’m reading all these books I used to read when I was little,” said Rebecca Baroukh, 12, clutching “The Little Engine That Could.”

“This book has a moral,” she said. “It teaches you to never give up.”

A West Hills-based nonprofit organization introduced the Mirman students to the Winnetka school. BookEnds partners schools needing books with students willing to collect and deliver them.

The group coordinates the relationships between donors and recipient schools, but students really do all the work, said Patricia Simonson, a BookEnds program assistant.

At Mirman, a private school in Bel-Air for gifted students, six hours of community service is required of each student. For this project, students held a book drive earlier this month. After collecting the books, the students boxed them for delivery this week.

“They take it from step A to Z,” Simonson said.

The Mirman students wore hats reminiscent of the one worn by the cat in Dr. Seuss’ famous book to mark the nationwide reading celebration, Read Across America. The annual event, a National Education Assn. project, calls for schoolchildren to read in the company of an adult.

Typically, Read Across America occurs on Dr. Seuss’ birthday, March 2, but this year, since the Mirman students were scheduled to visit on Wednesday, the Winnetka administration decided to celebrate a few days early.

Winnetka Principal Maria Nini Villasenor said her students are twice as lucky as most. They can first enjoy the Mirman students reading to them, and then treasure the books they leave behind.

“It’s going to have a major impact on the classroom because kids will love [the books],” Villasenor said.