(Radio Iowa) – Administrators at a southwest Iowa school are promoting literacy in a new way. A book vending machine is now installed in the media center at Clarinda’s Pre-K-6 Building. Clarinda Elementary Principal Lesley Ehlers says she worked with a local vending company to get the machine donated. It has slots for 20 different books and is inscribed on the side with the district’s literacy motto, “Readers are Leaders.”

“Literacy continues to be a huge focus at the elementary level,” Ehlers says. “We just want all of our students to enjoy reading, to be able to have books at their leisure, at home as well, not just here at school.” She says the school librarian selected and purchased the books using a grant of 27-hundred-50 dollars from the school’s Cardinal Fund. Ehlers says they’ll start making the books available through the machine to the district’s 6th grade students this semester.

“We’re starting with our 6th graders, since this is their last year at the elementary building,” she says, “and either offering the opportunity to select a free book on their birthday, or half birthday, or around there. We’re trying to catch up with all of our students, but by the end of the school year, all of our 6th graders will have an opportunity to select a book.”

Ehlers hopes to expand the machine’s availability to other elementary grades in the future, provided other funding sources and book donations are secured.