Reading Buddies Program Seeks Teen Readers

February 5 to March 23 will see a new kind of bonding taking place at the C.H. Booth Library when high school students are paired up with first and second grade students in the new Reading Buddies program organized by Newtown resident Meredith De Sousa and supported by the children’s and young adult programs at the library.

Reading Buddies is the culmination of a class project by Ms De Sousa, a student at Southern Connecticut State College working on her master’s in library science. She hopes to use that degree to work in a middle school or high school as a library media specialist eventually.

Ms De Sousa, mother of 4-year-old Emmi, knows that getting little children into the library is not that difficult. “With my project, I wanted to find a way to get older kids into the library, too,” said Ms De Sousa. “I think that by the time kids get to middle school and high school, they kind of forget about the library.” Reading Buddies, she believes, is a way to help younger readers foster a love of books and for older students to achieve a sense of accomplishment as they provide community service and learn more about what the library has to offer young adults.

Ms De Sousa hopes to find at least ten high school students between the ages of 14 and 18 willing to spend approximately one hour, once a week, at the library to read to the elementary school children. Not intended to teach children how to read, the six-week-long program hopes to promote relaxed, positive experiences with books.

A training session prior to the start of the program will instruct the high school students on strategies for reading together, how to give positive feedback, and other tips for making Reading Buddies a fun, shared time together. “Becky Virgall, a reading specialist at Sandy Hook Elementary School, has been working with me on this,” said Ms De Sousa. How to make books meaningful, how to select books for the young readers, and other reading tips will be passed on to the high school readers at the training session, said Ms De Sousa.

She envisions the readers meeting at the library weekly after the elementary schools are out for the day, but said that if a high school student’s schedule only works for a later afternoon or early evening session, she will try to match them up with a young reader who is able to meet at that time. “I guess there will have to be some flexibility in the scheduling once I know how many are going to participate,” Ms De Sousa said.

Teens and children must sign up at the library by January 22 to take part in the program. Applications for the high school students are available at the library or can be downloaded at biblio.org/chbooth/index. Select YA Webspot and then select Reading Buddies Teen Volunteer Application. High school students must also submit a letter of recommendation from an adult outside of the family, a teacher or a coach, for example. Applications and recommendations should be returned to Margaret Brown, young adult librarian, on the main floor of C.H. Booth Library.

Once the applications and letters are reviewed, Ms De Sousa will work with Ms Brown to organize a reading schedule for each pair of Reading Buddies. “If we have more young kids than teens sign up, I’m hoping that some of the teenagers will be willing to meet with more than one child a week,” said Ms De Sousa. A positive response from high school students is needed as soon as possible to make Reading Buddies a reality, she added. “I just see that this could be such a good experience for all of the kids involved.”