Volunteers Bring Books And A Love Of Reading To Kids

Books are not always readily available for children everywhere in the U.S. An international volunteer group started in West Virginia makes sure all preschool kids get new picture books and learn a love of reading because even in our digital age, a good book can quiet a room full of young kids brimming with morning energy.

Devan Chopra is a junior in high school, but today she’s in a pre-school classroom in Grafton, West Virginia. She’s reading Pete the Cat.

“I’m here because I really want to spread the love of reading,” she said. 

She and other volunteers with the LiTEArary Society made the trip to read a Pete the Cat book to the students of the Webster Head Start classroom in Grafton.

Chopra has been volunteering with the LiTEArary Society for four years, since she was in the 7th grade. The group collects books and takes them to classrooms like this one for students to take home.

“We’ve been bringing books through Appalachia, and this was the next stop,” she said.

Nate Sorrel, the teacher at the Webster Head Start, said the Head Start program encourages volunteerism because the novelty of new faces and information helps young learners engage.

“The kids, when they see somebody else, they get so excited,” Sorrel said. “They see us every day, and not that they don’t get excited for us, but to see someone new and what they have to offer, it’s really good for our program.”

He said volunteers like Chopra who not only read to the children but bring books they can take home are particularly important for their impact on childhood literacy and language development.

“When they were reading ‘Pete the Cat,’ and their faces just lit up, it’s really exciting, because they might not have this at home, they might not get to experience books,” Sorrel said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that reading together with young children significantly strengthens relationships with caregivers and promotes early brain development, laying the groundwork for school readiness and long-term benefits throughout life.

When Chopra asks if the kids are ready for their books and they can barely contain their excitement, shouting and bouncing in anticipation. 

Rania Zuri created the LiTEArary Society – the name is a play on her love of reading and tea. She came up with it in her home of Morgantown about five years ago. That’s when she learned about “book deserts,” places where books for children are difficult to get. 

“I was so sad to learn in middle school that so many children don’t have that privilege of having a parent or caregiver read to them or have books at home. And so when I started, I really wanted to begin with donating Pete the Cat books, because that was my favorite.”

Since then, she created a nonprofit organization with thousands of volunteers that has donated over $1,000,000 worth of new, best-selling picture books to over 91,000 preschool children. 

Volunteers like Chopra have helped the organization spread across the country. She said the LiTEArary Society makes it easy for middle-schoolers to join. For Chopra, starting early was key. 

“You can make a difference if you’re a child. because they’re younger, because they’re middle school, high school, they don’t think that what they do is really, really gonna make a difference. And to that, I say, look at the LiTEArary Society, because we’re entirely youth led.”

The reward of volunteering to read to children and bring them their own books is clear to her.

“It honestly means the world to me, because specifically in this state, I always think if just one kid falls in love with reading and has the same passion that I had as a kid growing up, then it makes everything worth it.”

The LiTEArary society already has high-school chapters in all 50 states. Even as international chapters are being founded in countries like England, local kids 12 and younger are encouraged to get involved.