‘Book Nooks’ promoting literacy for Valley migrant children

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) - A program working to ensure migrant students in the Valley succeed in school is now bringing libraries right to their neighborhoods.

Staff and participants of the Shenandoah Valley Migrant Education Program, with help from the staff of neighboring program Precious Time, worked over the summer to build handmade ‘book nooks’ for students in Harrisonburg and Rockingham.

The purpose of the book nooks is to provide access to reading materials for students who cannot get transportation to their local library.

Kids can either take a book or leave a book in the cabinets, and staff with SVMEP say the literature inside comes with a personal touch.

“We have books that are in their language that have characters that reflect their identities and how they want to be portrayed in different stories,” SVMEP Community Outreach Specialist Stephania Cervantes said. “And so to us, it’s a personal relationship like a little piece of us that they can have even if they’re not in the program or they can pass it down to their siblings.”

Cervantes says one of the book nooks will be located at Harrisonburg Baptist Church downtown, and they are actively seeking a location for one of the other book nooks.

You can find more information about SVMEP by clicking here.

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