Tate Maki-Waller stands next to a bookshelf that towers over her.
Student-to-student books
At Tattered Pages, students can earn coupons to buy books, donated by the community.
By <a href="http://www.startribune.com/bios/10645116.html">Emily Johns</a>, Star Tribune
December 4, 2007 at 2:22PM
The sixth-grader at Northfield Middle School says students love the student-run bookstore where she works.
She finishes lunch early so she can hang out there, and she wishes she didn't have to ride a bus to school so she could hang out more before and after school.
"Some people will come in here and hide books they like so nobody else can take it until they can afford it," she said.
Welcome to the Tattered Pages, where students at Northfield Middle School can earn coupons to buy their own used books, donated by the community. The student-run store, started by media specialist Amy Sieve, aims to get more books into students' homes.
"I love to read, and I like to find new books to read," said Luke Hubers, a seventh-grader who works in the store. "It's nice because you have to earn the money to buy books, someone just can't give it to you."
Sieve said that the school last year surveyed students who had performed in top and bottom quarters on reading tests, and found the lowest performers had very few books at home.
That was also often associated with students who came from low-income families, who make up almost one-fifth of the school's population.
The store's inventory hovers at about 5,000 books, and is largely dependent on the reading habits of Northfield community members -- for example, there are more than a dozen copies of the first Harry Potter book. Sieve estimates that the store receives about 100 books a day in donations and sells about the same amount.
The store has received several grants, including one for $400 from the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative. Sieve is now applying for another grant to add more Spanish books in order to cater to the school's Hispanic population. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, about 8 percent of the students there are Hispanic.
On Dec. 14, the store is hosting its first holiday shopping event. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., students can purchase gifts for family and friends with coupons they have saved up. The high school's National Honor Society will offer free gift wrapping.
"Absolutely what we're all about is getting the kids reading," said Sieve. "We've got to make reading really fun."
Emily Johns • 612-673-7460
