A few weeks ago, Athenian hosted its second annual Book Expo. While our Book Expo shares a lot in common with other book fairs at other schools, there is quite a bit that makes it uniquely Athenian. It was important to us that we make this Book Expo a community event, so we partnered with Orinda Books, a local independent bookstore and every title that was showcased at the Expo was hand chosen by one of our librarians or an Orinda bookseller.

While a major purpose of the Book Expo is to encourage recreational reading among students, it also catered to our adult community. We wanted to give parents an opportunity to come on campus, meet our librarians, and browse titles for their children as well as themselves. We stocked a variety of popular adult fiction and non-fiction titles, which were a big hit. Ten percent of all book sale proceeds went to support our library program and 10% of the proceeds went to Bella Vista, an underserved elementary school in Oakland that we have a longstanding partnership with. This year we raised nearly $400 for these causes, which will go towards purchasing books for both libraries.

With the money we raised from the Book Expo last year, we were able to purchase more than 50 new books for Bella Vista’s library. Because community service is a foundational pillar of the Athenian community, we wanted to do more than just donate books. Eight students from the Middle School and Upper School Library Advisory Boards got together in June to visit Bella Vista and read books to their K-5 classes. The students paired up, chose a few favorite picture books to read, and went to three different classrooms during their visit. The elementary students were so excited to have visitors—they enjoyed being read to, and the older grades had fun with Q & A sessions afterward, asking our students questions about middle and high school life. Our students ended the day feeling like they had made a positive difference and were excited about future partnerships. We look forward to our next trip to Bella Vista!