NEW YORK (AP) – Having handed out more than $1 million to help independent bookstores, James Patterson is now sharing his wealth with some other vital, but often struggling institutions: School libraries.
The best-selling author announced Monday that he was donating $1.25 million through a grant program administered with Scholastic Reading Club, a division of Scholastic, Inc. Libraries or supporters of libraries can seek donations $1,000 to $10,000. Scholastic will match each donation with “Bonus Points” that can be used to purchase classroom materials. According to Patterson, requests can be for anything from fixing a computer system to paying for a school reading project.
“James Patterson is such a champion of books and reading for all children. We are thrilled to work with him to support school libraries, which are essential for thriving school communities,” Judy Newman, president of Scholastic Reading Club, said in a statement.
Patterson, who has strong memories of his weekly visits to libraries as a child, told the Associated Press during a recent interview that he wanted to “shine a light” on the problem of public schools with no libraries or underfunded libraries. In California, for instance there was just one certified school librarian for every 7,784 students in 2012-13. Chicago and Philadelphia are among the other cities that have sharply cut library staffing. More than 8,000 public schools nationwide did not have libraries in 2011-12, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.
“A lot of schools also don’t have as many books as they should have,” said Patterson, adding that libraries were especially important for kids in households without books. “There’s a myth out there among some people that the kids are reading only digital books now. They’re not.”