Austin School Librarians Get New Van for Summer Reading Program

Austin school librarians will have a new set of wheels for delivering summer reading books next year. The Assistance League of Austin gifted the Austin school district a van designed to look like a big yellow school bus on Monday.

The long, bright yellow van, named ALVAN, features the markings of a traditional school bus and pictures of books in the windows. It was presented at the Assistance League Thrift House in North Austin, where nonprofit volunteers handed off the keys to Shannon Pearce, coordinator of library media services for the district.

The summer book program, now in its 10th year, provides children with new, free books during the summer to promote reading and prevent learning loss, often called the "summer slide."

"We have so many students whose primary access to books is the school library," Pearce said. "The research shows that if kids will read even just five books during the summer, they will maintain their reading level."

Before and during the summer, program coordinators bring books—ranging from picture books to young adult novels—to various schools or community centers and let children choose their own, Pearce said.

"We know when kids select their own books, they're more likely to read," she added.

Over 10 years, the program has given out about 20,000 books to children, according to the Assistance League.

Previously, the district rented school buses for the program, but coordinating the logistics could be challenging. The new van, valued at $55,000, aims to solve this problem.

"We hit on the idea of, 'Wouldn't it be great if they had a dedicated bus?'" said Linda Noy, president of the Austin chapter of the Assistance League.

The nonprofit also provided rolling book racks for the van and donated about $5,000 worth of new books to the summer book program last year.