JACKSON, Ky. (LEX 18) — It was a big day for hundreds of elementary school students in Breathitt County. As teachers stress the importance of reading the students are also getting the opportunity to expand their own libraries.
It's been nearly two years since floodwaters devastated Breathitt County.
"To see students who were already struggling before the flooding, then to lose everything, it was devastating," said Deidra Chapman, the library media specialist at Sebastian Elementary School.
Deidra Chapman is the Library Media Specialist at Sebastian Elementary School. She celebrates the happier days - days like this.
"To see this enthusiasm now, with this new generation coming in, it's so exciting," Chapman said.
As an elementary school student, few days were as memorable for Chapman as the book fair.
"They would send the fliers home. I would go through those, circle the books I wanted," Chapman said.
When those floodwaters came, they took people, they took homes, and in a lot of cases, and fifth-grade teacher Brooke Halsey says, they took prized possessions
"I know several of my students talked about the books that they had getting damaged, and they were like, this is what I had as a kid. This is what we did when we didn't watch TV or my mom would read this to me at night. Just not having those, it was really devastating for them because it was truly cherished memories that they lost," Halsey said.
Monday, through the Scripps Howard Fund's If You Give a Child a Book campaign, those kids' libraries are being rebuilt. Each of the 376 students at Sebastian Elementary got to choose any three brand-new books they wanted.
"It feels really good. The people, I just want to thank them so much. It's so kind," said fifth-grade student Colton Noble.
Noble is excited about the life lessons he learns in books. They open his eyes to the broader world.
"You can't just learn about one type of people. There are so many types of people in the world that you need to learn about because you're going to come across them," Noble said.
That's why his teacher, Ms. Halsey, is so excited. These books don't stop with kids like Colton. They are opportunities for the whole family to bond.
"When you're reading together as a family, you're all talking about the same things. You're all listening to the same story, the same characters. That's conversations you can have about the things and about the development, some awesome family conversations can go on through that," Halsey said.
As Breathitt County continues to recover from those floods, this is one more way these kids can return to normalcy.
"It is going to help them rebuild their home libraries. It is so important for students to have their own books at home that they can keep forever," Chapman said.
