The Bucks for Books summer program officially ended on Wednesday, July 30, 2003, when participants were transported in limousines to a party, then off to a visit at the Earlyworks Museum in downtown Huntsville.
Bucks for Books positively affected the lives of numerous children in Huntsville's public housing communities and programs. Extension collaborated with the Family Life Center, Huntsville Housing Authority, and the Boys and Girls Club to instill a love of reading to Huntsville's underserved population through this enriching reading program. The Family Life Center is a part of Extension that conducts programming strictly in public housing.
The summer reading program was available to children entering grades 2-7 in the 2003 school year. Each participant read a maximum of five books per week from a recommended reading list. Each week the children came to the community center or public library to give oral presentations and submit written reports on each book read to volunteers. Each participant was awarded $5.00 per book read and was eligible to earn up to $100.00.
Extensive research indicates a decrease in reading skills over the summer months and this is more profound in low-income communities (Juel, 1998). Access to quality reading material should continue throughout a child's school years. However, this becomes a challenge for many children in low-income communities. According to Juel, 88 percent of children who have difficulty reading at the end of the first grade display similar difficulties at the end of the fourth grade. A child's school success is greatly diminished if he/she cannot read well by the end of the third grade. And students who read poorly at the end of the fourth grade comprise the greatest percentage of school dropouts, juvenile delinquents, and prison inmates (Kingery, 1999).
The 22 children that participated during the 2003 season read a total of 202 books. Awards were given to special achievers such as Dominique Martindale, the most improved participant. Martindale received a Leap Pad Reading System to help further her success. Students Alicia Russell and Kendra Carter received "Girl's Day Out" certificates they used to go out shopping for school clothes with program coordinators Couch and Moore with the money they earned in the program.
The goal of the Bucks for Books Summer Reading Program is to instill a love of reading in the children; the monetary award is secondary. This goal was achieved as evidenced in a letter written by Micah Jackson. In it she states, "I like reading because I get to go to different times and different places".