GREAT FALLS — At Sunnyside Elementary School, parents say books are doing more than filling shelves — they’re shaping their children’s lives.
School nurse Melanie Knutson said her second-grader has fallen in love with reading: “"I have to tell her at night...to put the books away, otherwise she will just stay up with her booklight on reading... 'Dog Man' books right now is her obsession."
That wasn’t always the case.
“I actually got her screened for dyslexia because she was reading words backwards. Just crying every time we would try to, like, have her read out loud to us,” Knutson said. “And something switched. We were working really hard with her, like, every night after school, before bed, having her read just, like, two sentences at a time. And then we would read the rest of the story to her. And one day she just started reading on her own, and she just kept wanting to read."
Tom Wylie reports - watch:
Angel Bingham described the excitement of the book fair for her children.
“My first grader, who was a kindergartner at the time, every day, wanted to go,” Bingham said. “She comes home. She was, let me look what I got. And I’m like, oh my gosh. She goes, can we read them? Like, yeah, let’s read them.”
She said her fourth grader is also a strong reader.
“He read books about dinosaurs. And he reads like the thick books, like not his school level,” Bingham said. “He’s really intelligent when it comes to books. He can tell me stuff I don’t even know. I’m like, where’d you read that? Oh, this book.”
Both parents said the cost of books makes free programs critical for families.
“It’s just... books are expensive. Like the cheapest one I’ve seen is, you know, $10. And they have to make the decision whether or not, you know, buy groceries or buy their kid a Dog Man book,” Knutson said.
“It hits different when you can actually own the book. It’s in your house. And if Jasper wants to pass it on to his sister, she can pass it on,” Bingham said.
National research shows the importance of early literacy. Only 31% of fourth graders in the U.S. read at or above a proficient level, according to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress.
A child not reading at grade level by the end of first grade has an 88% chance of still struggling by the end of fourth grade, and students who don’t read on level by the end of third grade are four times less likely to graduate high school.
KRTV’s If You Give a Child a Book… campaign is working to provide free books for every Sunnyside student and build home libraries across Great Falls.
You can text KRTV to 50155 or visit krtv.com/giveabook to help make a difference in our community by putting new books in the hands of young readers!
