Modesto teens give books, reading buddies to budding readers

A Downey High senior hopes free books and stuffed animals together can create something priceless: strong readers.

“What’s important about having an animal and a book is that not everyone has someone to read to or someone willing to listen to them read. So they have a forever friend that they can just cherish and read to and hang out with,” said Athena Cole, founder of Book Buddies.

Stuffed animals make excellent listeners, always patient with do-overs and never critical if a word proves too difficult.

Cole and Book Buddies volunteers distributed about 640 books paired with stuffed animals Dec. 9, one for every child in early kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade at Kirschen and Burbank elementary schools in west Modesto.

Nearly all students at both schools qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, 97.2 percent, which likely means there are lots of kids with no children’s books at home.

“I realized that a couple of years ago, which is what inspired me to do this because I grew up loving to read,” said Cole, the daughter of Burbank kindergarten teacher Sarah Walls.

The team spent extra time in Walls’ class, reading to the kids and helping them choose from among the dozens of possibilities on the table before them.

“Do you like dogs? No? How about frogs? No. Do you like purple?” Cole asked a girl in a bright pink vest surveying the assortment.

“We tried our best to match the animal with the book. We spent many nights doing that,” said Walls with a smile as she watched the teens interact with the youngsters.

Volunteers Nathan Robertson, an Enochs High senior, and Payton Steward, a Modesto High senior, were Cole’s friends from La Loma Junior High. Brett Shank, Julia Fusia and Hannah Brownlee all go to Downey.

The Book Buddies effort is in its second year. Last December Cole and friends gave away 233 books and stuffed reading buddies.

“It’s so fun. They’re so excited. Some of their faces just light up. It’s really cute,” Brownlee said.

This story was originally published December 18, 2016 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Modesto teens give books, reading buddies to budding readers."