Grant helps LPOHS stock up on books
As part of a national grant, Mona Stafford, Lake Pend Oreille Alternative High School English teacher, along with librarian Sandy Lange, were recently awarded a shipment of books for the school’s small library. (Photo by RALPH BARTHOLDT)
SANDPOINT — History does not tell with certainty the date of his birth, only what came after.
George Washington Carver was born into slavery, adopted by a slave owner and rose to prominence as an agricultural scientist and teacher who developed crops alternative to growing cotton.
He was also a poet, and Lake Pend Oreille Alternative High School is richer for a collection of Carver’s poems it recently received through a federal library grant.
The grant, part of a project called “We the People” sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, provides classic literature to schools and public libraries nationwide.
As recipients of the grant, the Sandpoint school received boxes of books, many from the Civil War and Reconstruction era written either by people who lived during the period, or by modern authors who relied on first-hand accounts.
Mona Stafford, Lake Pend Oreille High School English teacher, along with librarian Sandy Lange applied for the grant that provided the books that complement the limited selection in the school’s small library.
Stafford expects the books to be used simultaneously in history and literature classes.
“They are by people who experienced American History,” she said. “It brings the subject matter to life, instead of just using textbooks.”
Lange said the diverse views helps balance history for readers.
“It rounds out the library,” she said. “It provides extra material for history and government classes.”
The books bulk up the library’s Civil War section, and include subject matter ranging from the Founding Fathers to the modern judiciary.
Titles such as “American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic,” by Joseph Ellis, “Lincoln in His Own Words,” by Milton Melzer and “Twelve Angry Men,” by Reginald Rose allow from cross-curricular use, Stafford said.
Lake Pend Oreille Alternative High School was among schools nationwide chosen for the grant based on an essay submitted by the two women, said Angela Thullen of the American Library Association, which selected recipients.
“The best applicants were chosen,” Thullen said.
The mission of the book program is to foster cultural education as part of the library service, Thullen said.
It is the seventh year that ALA and the NEH joined forces to distributed books to schools.
Since 2003, she said, 17,000 books have been distributed to libraries and schools across the country.
“It was quite an honor,” Stafford said.