Whenever Meenu Jagtiani sees a student in the hallway of her school, she reminds them to read a good book. It’s a drum she’s been beating over and over again, throughout her 38-year career in education.
But in the last few years, Meenu – who is a retired assistant principal from District 12 and an instructional leader at the Children’s Aid College Prep Charter School – has noticed how much of children’s reading has shifted to digital devices. She wanted to make sure that they didn’t lose the feeling of picking up a paper book and reading for pleasure.
“There’s a joy of picking up a book and smelling it when it’s brand new,” Meenu said. “I wanted the kids to have that excitement. Everything is online now but reading remains so important to their success.”
At CACPCS, there was no formal library. The children participate in a rigorous digital curriculum, but they rarely interact with old-school books.
In a vacant classroom, Meenu envisioned an opportunity.
“We had a little empty room,” she said. “It’s about the size of a small classroom. And I decided I was going to turn it into a library. I wanted the kids to be excited about it, so I named it Starbooks.”
Meenu mocked up a logo to look like the famous coffee shop’s logo, and she started spreading the word about the cool new space with students.
Meanwhile, she tapped into her network and neighbors in New Jersey to ask for book donations.
“People were so generous with their donations,” Meenu said. “Once they heard it was for a library for kids, I was getting books left and right. People were dropping them off at my home. I was driving at night to pick them up. I even had to have help bringing them into the school because there were so many!”
In the end, thanks to her dedication to the project, Meenu stocked the shelves of Starbooks with almost 500 books, as well as magazines, DVDs and beanbag chairs, creating an inviting space where students will want to sit down and rediscover the pure pleasure of flipping through the pages of a book.
“We didn’t have a lot of money to go out and purchase brand new books,” she said. “But I wasn’t gonna let that stop me. I told myself I was going to go out and get these books one way or another – and I did.”
Meenu worked with three sixth grade student librarians to set up the space, and they held a formal ribbon cutting to launch the new library last week. That’s just the first event of many more to come. Guided by her belief that reading is fundamental for student success, Meenu hopes this library will continue to inspire the scholars on a daily basis.
“The beauty of this is that it’s not a lending library,” Meenu said. “You take the book and keep it in your house. Then a month and a half from now, we’re going to have a book exchange party. I want to see the students sharing books with each other and telling their friends why they loved the book and why they were excited to read it.”
She hopes that the students will learn that reading isn’t just about research or education, but also about imagination and entertainment.
“Our kids need to pick up a book and hold it in their hands and feel something real,” she said. “They need to know that books aren’t just something you spend time with in school – books stay with you your whole life.”
