Book giveaway at Kensington school offers something to celebrate: ‘This is democracy in action’

Confetti floated to the ground. Excited kids shouted, clapping as 9-year-old Baashir Willis waved his arms, jubilant.

It was a big-deal moment in a big-deal day at Gloria Casarez Elementary School in Kensington: A nonprofit that makes kids’ reading dreams come true had just handed Baashir its millionth book. And though there are innumerable difficult things in the blocks surrounding Casarez and in the world, inside Room 207 there was something to celebrate.

“I love books,” said Baashir. “I can’t believe they picked me.”

Richard Quest never dreamed one day he’d be handing his organization’s millionth book to a Philadelphia fourth grader.

Quest founded the nonprofit quite by accident; as a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, he traveled to New Zealand to learn about the country’s educational system and met the founders of a similar charity there. Books in Homes USA, based in Bristol, Bucks County, launched in 2008.

Books in Homes aims to boost literacy and foster a love of reading in children by giving them books to own — not castoffs or material that holds little appeal, but books they love, books they choose. Quest said he’ll never forget one of the first books he personally gave away at Casarez — after a boy made his pick, he asked Quest when he would have to return it. His face lit up when Quest said it was his to keep.

“That little boy said it was the first book he had ever owned,” said Quest. “This is democracy in action.”

Spread out on a table before the Casarez students was a reading bounty: books about sharks and volcanoes, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and Confessions of a Gym Class Dropout. Each student was told to choose two books to take home.

Third grader Leilannie Davis considered her choices carefully.

“Every time I read, I’m leveling up — I get to learn about different things,” said Leilannie, 8.

“I love the I Survived books,” said Cameron Harris, another third grader. “I appreciate that they donated all these books.”

Think of book fair days in elementary school, said Kate Bowersox, Books in Homes’ executive director: the thrill of students shopping for books tailored to their interests. Books in Homes “brings the book fair feeling” to students who might not have the ability to have that otherwise.

“It’s so very, very important that our students, the next generation, learn to read and think and really dream big,” said Bowersox.

Casarez has had a relationship with Books in Homes since 2014, when principal Awilda Balbuena met Quest. Now, she’s a member of the nonprofit’s board and still a staunch believer that books in homes build not just reading comprehension, but also mathematical and digital communications skills, bolstering future job prospects.

After his name was announced, Balbuena hugged Baashir, whose name was chosen at random to receive the millionth book.

“I just like books, all the pictures and the words,” he said. After Baashir’s brother, first grader Zaideek, heard that his brother won, he rushed into the room where kids were still celebrating, poring over their books. They couldn’t wait to tell their sister, Xiulan, a Casarez kindergartner, the news.

“Now,” Zaideek said, “we can teach our sister to read, too.”