Britt's Bookshelf Grand Opening!

Yesterday, May 21st, we were able to open up Art City's Book Exchange Store, Britt's Bookshelf! If you are reading this, you probably bought a book that was stamped with this blog address! :) Thank you to Kristine Widtfeldt for donating the stamps. Thanks to Funfinity for donating the bookshelves, and Shelly Neilson for donating the banner. And most of all, thanks to all of YOU for donating your books to make this possible. We collected over 1500 books! Amazing! We live in such a great community.

Our purpose for choosing this as Alex's Eagle project was twofold: 1) We wanted to make books more accessible to kids of any income and inspire excitement about reading. Kids love to own their own books. Having this store in the school provides positive peer pressure-the excitement about books is contagious!
2) We wanted to honor the memory of our dear friend Britt Dalley. Britt loved books and was an avid reader and talented writer. We hope he would be happy to have this project named after him and that his enthusiasm for books will be shared with kids in the school he attended. Our hope is that, since every book is stamped with his name, as the books circulate to around the community, so will a memory of him. He will never be forgotten.

Coming Soon...a list of Dalley favorite authors and books!

About Britt's Bookshelf

“Britt’s Bookshelf” is the name of the book exchange store for Art City Elementary that I am working on as my Eagle project. The purpose of this “store” is to get kids excited about reading and owning their own books for a small fee or “trade”. Our goal is to get enough books to open the store in May.

It is named in memory of Britt Dalley (1990-2008), a former Art City Elementary Spelling Bee Champ, who was an avid reader and great role model. Three of his brothers are now attending Art City.

Please donate any used (or new) books –anything from Children’s picture books to Young Adult. (Any books that may be more appropriate for older grades are welcome but will be donated to the Junior High or High School.) There is a collection box located at Art City Elementary just outside of the office.

If you have any questions or need me to pick up any donations you may have, please contact me.

Thank you!
Alex Knowlton

Alternate Option: If you would like to donate a new or gently used book in Britt’s memory as a way of expressing your support to his family, you are welcome to do so. Please write your name on the inside cover in pencil or attach a post-it note. A personalized stamp will be placed in the book including the name of the donor. A list of donors will be given to his family. Britt's birthday is April 19th, and the date of his passing is May 7th.

Britt's Bookshelf (the blog) -the Beginning

This is a place of remembering and inspiring. A place to honor the memory of our dear friend Britton Dalley through one of his many passions in life -his love of reading. We hope his story will inspire others... This is a work in progress, but our goal is to have this as a source to promote literacy and love of reading among boys of all ages. As a mother of boys who had only a moderate interest in reading, I was always asking what books Britt had read to try to find something that would spark their interest. As a reader of mostly "girl" literature while growing up, I was not as familiar with authors and books that boys would love. I have talked to other moms who had similar roadblocks when it came to finding good books for boys. Hence, this idea was born. But as mothers of boys also know, eagle projects take lots of patience - so we ask for yours as we work on getting this project to take flight! We will provide info about the book drive and post updates about its progress.
Lisa K. and Alex K.