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Watauga County Library Announces New Project After Receiving Grant from Dollar General Stores

The Youth Services Department of Watauga County Public Library is pleased to announce a new project, coordinated with local reading specialist Laurie Gill. Watauga Library has recently been awarded a $3,000 Youth Literacy grant from Dollar General Stores. The grant will fund the purchase of special (“carefully-calibrated”) little books designed for beginning and primary-grade readers, which can be checked out for reading practice at home.

These books, which come in small sets, are easy for novice readers to handle (with a little help), and also interesting and enjoyable for young children. The aim is to give area children free access to the little books that can gently ease their way to success in school. The Watauga Library would like to give special thanks to Laurie Gill, reading specialist at Blowing Rock School and Kathy Newton, Early Steps teacher at Blowing Rock school for their contribution with grant aid.

Ms. Gill, reading specialist at Blowing Rock Elementary School, will hold informal workshops for parents to demonstrate how they can assist their early reader (or non-reader) with getting started in print. This can be fun and exciting for both child and adult. The launch date for the first workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, February 27th at 5:30, light refreshments will be served.

Other workshops will be announced on the Watauga Library calendar and Facebook page. You may contact the Department of Youth Services at the library to add your name to a list for one of these workshops. For more information, please call the Youth Desk at 828 264-8784 ext. 3.

Dollar General grants were started to honor the wishes of the company’s founder, who himself was functionally illiterate but wanted everyone to have a chance to read. In that same spirit, we are very excited about what this project can do for our kids’ progress in reading, and we appreciate the Dollar General funding that makes it possible.