To celebrate March is Reading Month 2021, the Wayne State University School of Information Sciences (SIS) students and the American Library Association at Wayne State (ALA@WSU) members Lindsey Crego, Jessica Biebuyck, Grace Moore, and Megan Hakala spent time at the Detroit Children’s Museum (DCM) filling WSU tote bags with children's books along with DCM lead educator and site manager Charles Merrell. The books were a mix of new items provided by Follett Books, and like-new donated books courtesy of the Children’s Museum and Northville public schools. 

More than 200 WSU tote bags were packed with books and were distributed to students in grades 6-8 at Brewer Academy in Detroit on March 19. Vonetta Clark-Tooles, supervisor of K-12 literacy for Detroit Public Schools Community District helped to coordinate a surprise visit by Clifford the Big Red Dog to help distribute the goodie bags, and students were inspired to start their own home libraries. The students enjoyed stories read by Mary Grant of the Detroit Association of Black Storytellers (DABS), and they also planned poetry slams and started to dream about organizing their own book clubs.

The connections were made possible due to the partnership with Pam Marcil, Yaa Sparks and Marcia Gregory, and the entire team from the Detroit Literacy Project, and communications from SIS practicum coordinator Jennifer Gustafson, who was a featured speaker at Brewer Academy's National African American Parent Involvement Day on February 8 and Literacy Summit on March 12.

For more about this and other projects from the School of Information Sciences, please visit: sis.wayne.edu/students/associations.