Child Aid Literacy Trainer Jorge Sanum smiles while unloading the shipment of new books that had traveled thousands of miles from the U.S. to our office in Panajachel, Guatemala.

Stacks of new children’s books await sorting and packaging for delivery in the Child Aid offices. This year we distributed over 20,000 books to 68 schools in the Reading for Life literacy program.

Child Aid Literacy Trainer Sarah Campa hands off a set of books for packing in boxes destined for Reading For Life schools. 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.

Teachers reach out to grab boxes of books during distribution to schools in in the town of Sololá.

Teachers carry books and bookshelves up the hill to the school in the village Peña Blanca. Many of the public schools that Child Aid works with are in remote, rural communities.

Students at the Nueva Esperanza school in Sololá help out with distribution by carrying stacks of books and new shelves up to their school.

A group of boys help carry a bookshelf into the Chuimanzana school. The Child Aid book distribution includes two new bookshelves for each school. The bookshelves are equipped with wheels to make it easy to move them from classroom to classroom or even out to the courtyard for reading at recess. It’s one more way to help schools make the books accessible to students and teachers throughout the day.

Nueva Esperanza School Principal Eduardo Figueroa Alvarado checks out this year’s new “big books” with a group of students. These large format books are great for classroom read alouds and a very useful resource for teachers.

With smiles on their faces, teachers squeeze into tuk-tuks to accompany new bookshelves and books back to their school in the municipality of San Lucas.

Child Aid Literacy Trainer Kelly Batz (right) shares a laugh with a teacher while labeling books at the San Isidro school. After a school gets a delivery of books, a Child Aid staff member leads a labeling session to provide training and help with categorizing and labeling the books.

First Grade Teacher María Mercedes, sorts the labels that differentiate books on the basis of reading level and subject matter. Using a system developed by Child Aid, the labels will help teachers quickly identify books so they can more easily find appropriate books for their classroom lessons and activities. “Having books in our classroom has given us content for our classes, which is very important,” says Maria. “The classification helps me a lot because I can choose the right book for the general theme easily. ”

A teacher at the San Isidro school in Sololá helps a 5th grader pick the right label to add to one of the school’s new books. Getting both teachers and students involved in the labeling activity also encourages them explore and familiarize themselves with the new books. These are essential steps in making sure that the books are integrated into the school community and are being used by students and teachers every day.

After every book has been labelled, students are rewarded within 15 minutes of free reading — within seconds, the room has gone completely silent with busy readers!

Ensuring that every child has access to great books is essential to helping them become confident and enthusiastic readers.