Copperfield's Books and Music of Sonoma County in California, along with Cal-Fed Bank and other local organizations, is spearheading a dictionary drive for Sonoma County third graders. The group has set out to give each of the county's 5,760 third graders a hardcover dictionary to keep at home.
Launched September 24 at Santa Rosa's Coddingtown Mall, the drive was given "loads" of visibility when 25 tons of sand was dumped into the parking lot and crafted into the images of local sports mascots by champion sand sculptor Gregg Glen. Over $10,000 was collected on the very first day. Helping in the launch were local politicians and educators; Senator Barbara Boxer sent a letter stating, "No child who has the desire to learn should be denied the opportunity to do so." Others quoted the program's relevance to President Clinton's America Reads Challenge.
Tom Montan, marketing director of Copperfield's, and Stephen Nielsen, principal of Monr Elementary School, initiated the group's first literacy effort last year, after Nielson noted the low reading performance of his students, and saw limited access to books in their homes as a contributing factor. The 1998 "Kids First" book drive, which put a shelf full of books in homes that had been without, was so successful that the two met this year with the hopes of making a continuing difference.
"Having a dictionary can be a key to giving children the confidence they need to keep reading, especially in bilingual households," Montan told PW. The group chose the Macmillan Dictionary for Children as the best choice for the project.
So far, the drive has collected nearly half the $60,000 needed to fund all the dictionaries. Contributions can be sent c/o Dictionary Drive, Copperfields Books and Music, 138 N. Main St., Sebastopol, Calif. 95472.
