Free Online Library for Children

We Give Books is a new digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online.

We Give Books combines the joy of reading with the power of helping others, providing a platform for caregivers and educators to inspire children to become lifelong readers and lifelong givers.

We Give Books also helps some of the world's best, most inspiring, literacy organizations by spreading the word about their great work and by providing books to the young people these organizations support.

Watch the following clip to learn more...

The Worth of a Child

Do you remember my posts about the student that stole things from our classroom, pooped in a urinal, talked out of turn and pretty much had behavior issues all school year? Well, one morning last week he said, "Mrs. Lancaster. Don't look." (Words every adult wants to hear from a child, right?) He then preceded to ask me, "How do you spell you?", so I had him search for the sight word 'you' on our Word Wall. Then he asked how to spell 'are'. Trying to encourage him, I said, "If you can't find it on the Word Wall, sound it out. You can do it." He then continued to work hard on his 'secret project'. After a time, he got out of his chair and walked over to the table where I was testing students. Handing me a piece of scratch paper, he said, "Mrs. Lancaster, will you write your name?" I quickly jotted down my name and handed it back to him. A few minutes later, he got up from his desk, came back over and handed this to me...

THIS is why I do what I do. EVERY child is worth it!

On the Sly

It has always been difficult to get Cody to read braille at home. Being autistic as well as blind, Cody thinks reading is something he should do only at school. He also hates reading aloud. If I ask him to read to me, he'll speak at a snail's pace, mumble, or chop up sentences so badly that I want to pull my eyelashes out one by one.

Yesterday, I stumbled across a journal that Cody kept when he was younger. Realizing how much he enjoys reminiscing, I nonchalantly plopped it in his lap and said, "Hey Cody. I found your journal. If you want to read it to yourself, you can. It has fun stories about living in Oregon and going to OSB." I then left him alone, knowing if I made a big production out of it, he'd never examine the book.

Later in the evening, Katelyn and I were sitting on the sofa enjoying Winter Wipeout, when I glanced over at Cody and witnessed this...

We then watched as Cody read five or six pages, with a big grin on his face, before he closed up the book and put it on the floor. Incredible.

de·vi·ous- showing a skillful use of underhanded tactics to achieve goals. (Yep. That's me!)

Clapping in the Bedroom

I asked Don to move the treadmill into our bedroom, so I can watch television while I work out. The only place it fits, however, is between my side of the bed and the nightstand. Now, if I want to read before I go to sleep, I have to get out of bed and climb over the treadmill to turn off the lamp. One night last week, I felt too tired to get back out of bed, so I mentioned to Don that we should put our lamps on a clapper. He laughed at me and said, "That would really be aging us, wouldn't it?"