Busload of Books to visit Garnet

CHESTERTOWN — Children’s author/illustrator team Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr are bringing the second phase of their national literacy access and awareness initiative Busload of Books to H.H. Garnet Elementary School, the first step of an ongoing partnership with Kent County Public Schools in which the duo will visit each of the district’s three elementary schools twice over the next six years.

Swanson and Behr will be at Garnet Thursday, Oct. 3. There will be two in-school assemblies for students and a parent night from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

For the 2024-25 phase of the Busload of Books initiative, Swanson and Behr have selected 12 schools, including Garnet, for a mix of in-person and virtual visits.

“Our school community is so excited for the visit,” said Florence Terrill, community school coordinator at Garnet. “Garnet is one of just 12 schools nationwide selected for a visit and book giveaway from the Busload of Books.”

Garnet is a fitting stop on this phase of Swanson and Behr’s initiative. It hosted the duo’s launch of their Busload of Books Tour two years ago.

Swanson and Behr spent the 2022-23 school year traveling 34,000 miles across the U.S. in a tiny-home school bus with their four children and two dogs, visiting Title I elementary schools in all 50 states.

Title I is a federal designation for schools with high needs. The designation, according to the Maryland State Department of Education, brings additional funding to ensure students receive a “fair, equitable and high-quality” education.

On their 2022-23 tour, Swanson and Behr distributed 150,000 free books and 25,000 free “reading buddy” teddy bears to students in partnership with First Book and the Build-A-Bear Foundation. This included a free bear for every elementary student in Kent County Public Schools.

They also partnered with Washington College to measure the impact of author visits on students at Title I schools.

In Phase Two, ongoing research will test the relative impact of virtual versus in-person author/illustrator visits.

“We’ve seen hundreds of times the empowering impact author/illustrator visits can have on school communities,” Swanson and Behr said. “When kids realize we’re just regular people, they recognize their own capacity to create. They start reading, writing, drawing and telling their own stories.”

For more on Busload of Books, visit busloadofbooks.com.