Free Books for Tahoe First Graders

June 1, 2020

Attention parents of local first graders! Every first grader enrolled in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) or at Zephyr Cove Elementary School will get a brand-new, hardbound book they can keep forever! When parents go to their LTUSD school’s designated Materials Collection Date on June 9 or June 10, one new book will be gifted to each child along with a free puppet. Parents of first graders at Zephyr Cove Elementary will be contacted prior to the last day of school with additional details for book and puppet pickup.

The free books and puppets are courtesy of the popular Gift of Literacy program, made possible through a partnership with Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC), LTUSD, Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe, Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation, and Scholastic Books. Gift of Literacy encourages a love of reading among young children and is designed to increase student literacy rates and infuse books into the South Lake Tahoe community. 

Since 2018, Gift of Literacy brought hundreds of first graders to LTCC’s campus to meet and enjoy a presentation by a notable children’s book author or illustrator, take a campus tour, participate in activities in the library and biology lab, and small group reading sessions with volunteers from the community reading aloud to local youth.  

 This kind of program was impossible to pull off this year due to COVID-19. However, thanks to a generous donation by Soroptimist International of South Lake Tahoe along with generous discounting by Scholastic Books, the Gift of Literacy program is able to gift a hardbound book to every LTUSD first grader and those at Zephyr Cove Elementary.

The students have been reading the eight books selected for this year’s Gift of Literacy event since January and recently had an opportunity to select their favorite. A full set of the eight books that were selected for this year’s event will be made available at every LTUSD and Zephyr Cove elementary school library, the county library, Boys and Girls Club of South Lake Tahoe and the LTCC Library.