Pam Dudding Burch
Contributing writer
Most children like to spend their free time playing their video games, looking at their IPad or talking on the cell phone. They are still some children though who choose to spend their free time by delving into a new novel.
Kammie Fisher, a fifth-grader at McCleary Elementary School, decided that she wanted to start collecting books for her local library and named her project “We Read Books.”
“I like to read a lot,” she said with a smile. “In fact, I read every day of the week.”
Fisher mentioned that she came up with the idea to collect books for the local library so other students could have more reading options. She is currently working with Letha Persinger at the library and has already received many book donations.
“I love books, and most people I know don’t, so I wanted to help the world know that there is magic in books,” Fisher said.
Fisher’s influences include her parents as well as the school librarian. “Also, the kids who hate reading in my class were an influence,” she added.
Almost 11-years-old, Fisher personally likes to delve into long series and has finished each of the following: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Laura Ingal Wilder and the Spirit Animal books. Because the local library didn’t have all of the books that she needed, she had to go outside of the Craig County library to obtain them.
Fisher also noted that she is looking for “as many recent children and pre-teen nonfiction books as possible; we take all donated books.” Any books the library is unable to use will go on sale to help raise funds. Kammie is also collecting DVDs and books on CDs.
Though she shared that she does not have a particular number set as a goal, Fisher did explain that her current goal is “to get as many books donated as she can.”
Books and donated items can be dropped off at the Craig County Library or the Market Street Pharmacy in Food Country. “Please tell whoever is working there what the books are for,” Fisher said.
“After I start branching out, I’m hoping to send books to Africa for kids who don’t have any,” she added. “This is just my wish, but I have a feeling it’s going to happen. I’m hoping to link to a school or an orphanage in Africa or even here.”
With Fisher’s focused desire on collecting books and her vision of possible mailings to Africa or kids in the USA that have no or few books, it’s abundantly clear that there are still young people who are indeed leading the way for the older ones to follow and participate in.
“Books are magic and the source of creativity,” Fisher noted. “And they help you learn while having fun too.”
