Southern Boone book swap program builds a community of readers

By Cate Willey, Boone County Journal

Students at Southern Boone Elementary School had the chance to swap and receive new books last week as part of its annual book swap program.

Once a month, Southern Boone Elementary hosts a schoolwide book swap. Books are set out in a designated classroom, and each class has a scheduled time to pick or swap out a book to take home. The tradition has been running at the elementary school since the 2018-19 school year.

Amy Shepherd, Southern Boone Elementary instructional coach, said the book swap was a creative way to give students more access to books beyond the library.

“We wanted to make sure that students had texts available to them to read at home and outside of school,” Shepherd said.

Each year, the community supports the program by donating books. Families and staff contribute books as well, helping to grow the collection. In addition, students are encouraged to bring books they would like to swap or share with others.

During each book swap, a community volunteer helps organize and arrange the books. They set out a large selection, and, after each class or grade visits, they restock the tables with more texts.

Shepherd said the kids look forward to this every year. She has found that students begin recommending other books to their classmates, saying, “This is a really great one — I love it!”

The elementary school is not the only Ashland school doing a regular book swap. Southern Boone Primary School hosts one every other Thursday.

It is organized by the primary school’s reading support team, with help from a community volunteer who keeps the books stocked as classes rotate through. Teachers also play a key role in supporting the effort, Southern Boone Primary principal Brandy Clark said.

“Every year I feel like we get more and more books out to kids,” Clark said. “And that’s the reason that we started it, we wanted to instill a love of reading, and we wanted to help kids build their own classroom libraries at home.”

Both schools have a designated classroom for the book swap, which takes place during school hours. Volunteers keep track of how many books each class brings and how many are given out, helping the school monitor its supply and restock when needed.

Students don’t have to bring a book to participate; they can simply come with their class and choose one to take home. By the end of the day, every student leaves with a new book.

“There is a sense of pride, and also a deeper sense of pride in owning their own book,” Clark said.

In the 2024–25 school year, over 13,000 books were given to students through the primary school’s book swap. When asked if they hope to crush that goal this year, Clark seemed excited at the prospect.

“We will hopefully be able to surpass 13,000,” she said.