“The focus of Women’s Storybook Project of Texas is to maintain the relationship between incarcerated mothers and their children, and to develop a love of reading in those kids. “The project is in 10 women’s prisons throughout the state. I’m part of a group of … Continue readingReading connects incarcerated moms with kids
“I have dyslexia. I started really noticing it near the end of my sophomore year in high school. I had trouble staying focused on one topic, and I would mix-match letters sometimes. “It was kind of distracting at first, but I didn’t really get frustrated. … Continue readingHe doesn’t let dyslexia define him
“I grew up in a very traditional Mexican household, where the father was the one who provided and the mother stayed home. That continued until I was 11 or 12, when my mother started working to help with the bills. “My father was always a … Continue readingYoung feminist chases her dreams
“I have this innate love of reading, learning and challenging authority. I read all kinds of books about science, history, religion. A lot of them are simply reference books. I have several sets of encyclopedias and history books. I don’t read one at a time, … Continue reading‘Books are more precious than gold’
“We have different incentives to encourage the students to read. Little kids are really motivated by pencils, bookmarks, erasers and stuff like that. We do AR (accelerated reader) dollars. I run reports every few weeks, and they get a dollar for however many kinds of … Continue readingReading more fun with prizes, ice cream parties
“A big kind of buzzword these days is ‘future ready librarian.’ What a lot of that means is, are we preparing young students for the technology that they’re going to encounter? Are we exposing them to coding, robotics and different things like that? We’re definitely … Continue readingTeaching kids the importance of reading is key
“I was looking at a librarian page on Facebook, and someone had posted about their Little Free Library. I thought it looked pretty cool. So when it came time to write Education Foundation grants, I decided to do one for our campus. “We placed it … Continue readingLittle Free Library connects kids with reading
NameKathleen Merritt Age55 How long have you lived in Baytown?37 years Most interesting fact about youI have survived a lot of trials, tribulations and tragedies. BackgroundI was raised in Philadelphia. I moved here in 1982 with my family after our mother passed away. I found … Continue readingKathleen Merritt: chooses joy despite tragedies
“My grandparents raised me. We lived in an area where you couldn’t go outside very often. So you had to find something to entertain yourself. In my household growing up, it was reading. Every book was a new adventure. I would absorb that place and … Continue readingFree little library helps build kids’ imaginations
“When I started helping out early last school year, there was this little boy who was really struggling to read. He would read really slow. But we worked with him throughout the year. So by the time the year ended, he knew how to read … Continue readingShe gets a kick out of tutoring young students