Follow Child Aid books as they journey cross-country from our office in Panajachel to more than 90 different schools, many of them located in small agricultural towns with little contact or resources from the outside world.  Watch our slideshow and see the smiles you helped deliver to Guatemala this year.

Literacy Trainers Erick Estacoy and Juan Mendoza have some fun while unloading books at the Child Aid office in Panajachel.

Literacy Trainer Marilena Ixen unpacks and sorts books in the hallway of Child Aid’s office. For a few days each year, the office is crammed wall to wall with books as staff prepare them for delivery to partner schools. It’s a big job, but well worth the effort when you see the smiles on students and teachers’ faces when the books arrive.

A sea of books! Literacy Trainer Mildred Ramírez Esquina surveys the results of a long day of organizing books into packets for each of the 91 partner schools this year. The packets contain a variety of books of different topics, genres and reading levels to meet the needs and interests of all kinds of readers.

As another school year begins, Child Aid’s delivery truck, loaded with colorful storybooks and shelves, winds its way through Guatemala’s tropical landscape.

Students from the Panal Chu’ul school lend a hand to carry books up the street to classrooms.

Literary trainers Juan Mendoza and Edgar Garcia carry bookshelves through the narrow streets of Santiago Atitlán, en route to the Tzanjuyu school.

A group of boys carry a new bookshelf up the hill to their school, Villa Hermosa. Many of Child Aid’s partner schools are located in small agricultural communities that get little contact or resources from the outside world.

Juan receives a warm greeting from a group of kids who are anxious for him to read them a story!

Boxes of new books sit ready to fill empty shelves at the Xetzitzí school. Xetzitzí is one of 30 new partner schools who are joining the Child Aid program this year.

A group of boys at the Chuisajcap school eagerly dig in to find a new book to read.

A teacher carefully labels a bookshelf. The shelves are equipped with wheels so they can be easily moved from classroom to classroom and even out onto the playground for recess. It’s all part of making books more accessible to kids.

Students watch attentively as Mildred labels books at the Panabaj school.

A teacher and and one of her students explore the new collection together. Colorful, engaging books are a critical classroom tool for teachers. The training teachers receive teaches them techniques for integrating books into their daily classroom curriculum.

Books on books on books! This teacher is working hard to tag and label the new books and bookshelves Child Aid brought to her classroom. Using a system developed by Child Aid, the labels will help teachers quickly identify books so they can easily find appropriate books for their classroom lessons and activities.

Our annual book deliveries ensure that students have great books to read all year long. It’s always a great way to start off a new school year!

“¡Los libros están aquí!” Several school-age kids stand in the dusty street shouting as a truck carrying Child Aid books and bookcases trundles past. Finally. Boxes of colorful books — stories about dinosaurs and trains; volcanoes in Spain; cats in hats and fish who live at tremendous depths; butterflies and barnyards; science experiments gone awry, oh my! — are handed from child to child to child. The boxes and bookcases are tugged and yanked and carefully balanced along the way through narrow, steep streets to the school in Panal Chu’ul.

It has become a tradition. Each February Child Aid delivers boxes of books and bookshelves to each of our partner schools. It’s a great way to kick off a new school year and creates lots of excitement with teachers and students as everyone gets ready for another year of literacy and learning.